Patients on IBD biologics at no extra risk from COVID-19, suggest studies
A database analysis and a case study add to an emerging reassuring picture, researchers say
Patients with IBD being treated with TNF inhibitors appear to be at no increased risk of requiring ventilation or dying if they contract COVID-19, a study suggests.
Despite the immune-modulating drugs being linked to a higher risk of other severe infections, reassuring preliminary results from a multinational database of COVID-19 outcomes suggest they could even have a protective effect.
The data from the SECURE-IBD database covered 525 patients in 33 countries, of whom 161 were hospitalised and 16 died.
Systemic corticosteroid use was linked to sevenfold increase in severe outcomes such as ICU admission, ventilation or death.
