Comparison of nailfold capillaroscopy findings in COVID-19 survivors with and without rheumatic disease: a case-control study

Year 2024, Volume: 49 Issue: 1, 71 - 80, 29.03.2024

Hüseyin Kaplan , Gizem Cengiz , Senem Şaş , Hasan Kara

https://doi.org/10.17826/cumj.1382804

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the nailfold capillaroscopy (NFC) findings of patients with rheumatic disease and healthy controls (HCs) who survived coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Materials and Methods: This study included patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who recovered from COVID-19 and HCs. NFC was performed for all participants. NFC findings of the three groups [patients with COVID-19 (group 1), HCs with COVID-19 (group 2), and HCs without COVID-19 (group 3)] were compared.
Results: A total of 142 individuals (group 1, n = 42; group 2, n = 50; group 3, n = 50) were included in the study. Hospitalization and oxygen therapy were more common in group 1 than in group 2. The median time from a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-positive real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test to NFC was 10.3 (6.3–24.4) weeks in group 1 and 17.1 (6.1–44.9) weeks in group 2. All NFC findings did not differ among the groups except for capillary ramifications, which were higher in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3. Underlying rheumatic disease was the only predictor that was significantly associated with capillary ramifications.
Conclusion: The NFC findings of COVID-19 survivors with and without rheumatic disease were substantially similar to those of HCs who did not have COVID-19. Capillary ramifications may result from an underlying rheumatic disease in patients with axSpA, PsA, and RA.

Keywords

Capillaries, COVID-19, microcirculation, nailfold capillaroscopy

Project Number

None

Romatizmal hastalığı olan ve olmayan COVID-19 hastalarında tırnak dibi kapilleroskopi bulgularının karşılaştırılması: vaka-kontrol çalışması

Abstract

Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı koronavirüs hastalığı 2019 (COVİD-19) sonrası hayatta kalan romatizmal hastalığı olan hastaların ve sağlıklı kontrollerin tırnak dibi kapilleroskopisi bulgularını değerlendirmektir.
Gereç ve Yöntem: Bu çalışmaya, COVİD-19’dan sonra iyileşen aksiyal spondiloartrit (akSpA), psoriatik artrit (PsA) ve romatoid artrit (RA) hastaları ve sağlıklı kontroller dâhil edildi. Tüm katılımcılara tırnak dibi kapilleroskopisi uygulandı. Üç grubun [COVID-19 geçiren romatizmal hastalar (grup 1), COVİD-19 geçiren sağlıklı kontroller (grup 2) ve COVİD-19 geçirmeyen sağlıklı kontroller (grup 3)] tırnak dibi kapilleroskopi bulguları karşılaştırıldı.
Bulgular: Çalışmaya grup 1'de 42, grup 2'de 50 ve grup 3'te 50 olmak üzere toplam 142 kişi dâhil edildi. Hastaneye yatış ve oksijen tedavisi oranları grup 1'de grup 2'ye göre daha sıktı. Pozitif bir şiddetli akut solunum sendromu koronavirüs-2 (SARS-CoV-2)-real-time polimeraz zincir reaksiyonu (RT-PCR) testinden tırnak dibi kapilleroskopisine kadar geçen ortalama süre grup 1'de 10,3 (6,3–24,4) hafta ve grup 2'de 17,1 (6,1–44,9) haftaydı. Grup 1'de grup 2 ve 3'e göre daha yüksek oranda olan kapiller dallanmalar dışında, tüm kapilleroskopik bulgular gruplar arasında farklılık göstermedi. Altta yatan romatizmal hastalık kapiller dallanmalarla anlamlı şekilde ilişkili olan tek prediktördü.
Sonuç: Romatizmal hastalığı olan ve olmayan, COVİD-19'dan sağ kurtulanların tırnak dibi kapilleroskopi bulguları, sağlıklı kontrollerle büyük ölçüde benzerdi. AkSpA, PsA ve RA hastalarında kapiller dallanmalar altta yatan romatizmal hastalığın bir sonucu olabilir.

Keywords

Kapiller damarlar, COVİD-19, mikrosirkülasyon, tırnak dibi kapilleroskopisi

Ethical Statement

This study was approved by the Erciyes University Clinical Research Ethics Committee (Date: 22 September 2021; Approval Number: 2021/615). We also acted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and obtained written informed consent from all patients.

Supporting Institution

None

Project Number

None

Thanks

None

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