Table 1.
Characteristics of the studies included in the review.
| First Author; Year | Study Design | Country | Rheumatic Disease | Time between COVID-19 and RMD | Number of Post-COVID-19 Patients |
Percentage of Patients with Arthralgia or RMD or Main Findings about Autoantibodies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acosta-Ampudia; 2022 [25] | Prospective observational study | Colombia | Arthralgia and autontibodies (RF, ACPA) | Median of 288 days | 33 | Frequency of RF and ACPA did not differ from healthy subjects. |
| Akova; 2022 [26] | Cross-sectional observational study | Turkey | Arthralgia | 12 months | 151 | 46% |
| Al-Aly; 2021 [27] | Prospective observational study (electronic health records) | USA | Arthralgia and inflammatory arthritis | >1 month | 73,435 | N/R |
| Aly; 2021 [28] | Retrospective cross-sectional observational study | Egypt | Arthralgia | >1 month | 115 | 21% |
| Anaya; 2021 [29] | Case series | Colombia | Arthralgia | Median of 219 days | 100 | 65% |
| Ardakani; 2022 [30] | Case series | Iran | Septic arthritis | Mean of 42 days | 5 | 100% |
| Bakılan; 2021 [31] | Retrospective cross-sectional observational study | Turkey | Arthralgia | >4 weeks | 280 | 36% |
| Bileviciute-Ljungar; 2022 [32] | Cross-sectional observational study | Sweden | Fibromyalgia | >12 weeks | 100 | 40% |
| Buonsenso; 2022 [33] | Cross-sectional observational study | UK/USA/other countries | Arthralgia | >1 month | 510 children (in 41% COVID-19 was suspected, not confirmed) | 61% |
| Carfì; 2020 [34] | Cross-sectional observational study | Italy | Arthralgia | 60 days | 143 | 27% |
| Carvalho-Schneider; 2021 [35] | Prospective observational study | France | Arthralgia | 1 month and 2 months | 150 at 1 month and 130 at 2 months | 10% at 1 month and 16% at 2 months |
| Chudzik; 2022 [36] | Prospective observational study | Poland | Arthralgia | >4 weeks | 218 | 2% |
| Chudzik; 2022 [37] | Retrospective observational study | Poland | Arthralgia | 3 months | 2,218 | 4% |
| Cui; 2022 [38] | Prospective observational study | China | Arthralgia | 12 months | 1,296 | 12% |
| Derksen; 2021 [9] | Case series | Netherlands | Inflammatory arthritis and autoantibodies (ACPA) | 5 weeks for determination of ACPA, mean of 7 weeks for onset of arthritis | 61 for determination of ACPA; patients across various Dutch rheumatology clinics for RA | 0 new ACPA;5 RA |
| Galal; 2021 [39] | Cross-sectional observational study | Egypt | Arthralgia | Mean of 176 days | 430 | 57% |
| Gamal; 2022 [40] | Prospective observational study | Egypt | Arthralgia | 1.5 months | 170 | 19% |
| Ghosn; 2021 [41] | Prospective observational study | France | Arthralgia | 6 months | 1,137 | Around 16% at 3 months and 18% at 6 months |
| Gulzar; 2022 [42] | Cross-sectional observational study | Pakistan | Arthralgia and inflammatory arthritis | 6 months | 367 | 25% for arthralgia and 1% for arthritis |
| Heesakkers; 2022 [43] | Prospective observational study | Netherlands | Arthralgia | 12 months | 243 | 26% |
| Huang C.; 2021 [44] | Ambidirectional observational study | China | Arthralgia | Median of 186 days | 1,733 | 9% |
| Huang L.; 2021 [45] | Ambidirectional observational study | China | Arthralgia | >6 months | 1,225 at 6 months, 1,272 at 12 months | 11% at 6 months and 12% at 12 months |
| Irisson-Mora; 2022 [46] | Cross-sectional observational study | Mexico | Arthralgia | 6 months | 280 | 12% |
| Karaarslan; 2021 [47] | Prospective observational study | Turkey | Arthralgia | 1 month | 300 | 22% |
| Karaarslan; 2022 [48] | Prospective observational study | Turkey | Arthralgia | 3 months and 6 months | 291 at 3 months and 285 at 6 months | 39% at 3 months and 19% at 6 months |
| Kenny; 2022 [49] | Prospective observational study | Ireland | Arthralgia | >4 weeks | 233 | 23% |
| Kiatkittikul; 2022 [50] | Retrospective observational study | Thailand | Myositis | Median of 32 days | 13 | 62% |
| Kim; 2022 [51] | Prospective observational study | Korea | Arthralgia | 12 months | 170 | 12% |
| Lingel; 2021 [52] | Prospective observational study | Germany | Autoantibodies (RF, ACPA) | 8 months | 68 | ACPA were elevated in post-COVID-19 patients compared to unexposed donors and remained elevated in convalescents even after 8 months post infection. |
| Lombardo; 2021 [53] | Prospective observational study | Italy | Arthralgia | 12 months | 303 | 48% |
| Maestre-Muniz; 2021 [54] | Cross-sectional observational study | Spain | Inflammatory arthritis | ≥12 weeks | 543 | 2% |
| Martone; 2022 [55] | Cross-sectional observational study | Italy | Arthralgia | Mean of 88 days | 541 (20% sarcopenic) | 36% of non-sarcopenic patients and 24% of sarcopenic patients |
| Mukarram; 2021 [56] | Case series | Pakistan | Inflammatory arthritis | Mean of 8 weeks | 5 | 100% |
| Muñoz-Corona; 2022 [57] | Ambidirectional observational study | Mexico | Arthralgia | 3 months | 141 | 47% |
| Petersen; 2021 [58] | Prospective observational study | Denmark | Arthralgia | Mean of 93 days | 180 | Around 11% |
| Sarda; 2022 [59] | Cross-sectional observational study | India | Arthralgia | >4 weeks | 251 | 4% |
| Schultheiss; 2022 [60] | Cross-sectional observational study | Germany | Autoantibodies (RF) | >4 weeks | 201 | Around 20% |
| Taha; 2021 [61] | Cross-sectional observational study | Egypt | Inflammatory arthritis, autoantibodies (RF, ACPA) | 6 months | 100 | 37% for arthritis; 19% for RF; 39% for ACPA |
| Tiwari; 2021 [62] | Cross-sectional observational study | Nepal | Arthralgia | 2 months | 132 | 6% |
| Tleyjeh; 2022 [63] | Cross-sectional observational study | Saudi Arabia | Arthralgia | >4 weeks | 5,946 | 31% |
| Tosato; 2021 [64] | Cross-sectional observational study | Italy | Arthralgia | Mean of 77 days | 165 | 22% |
| Tuzun; 2022 [65] | Cross-sectional observational study | Turkey | Arthralgia | >4 weeks | 113 | 40% |
| Uniyal; 2022 [66] | Cross-sectional observational study | India | Arthralgia | >6 weeks | 360 | 21% at 6 weeks—3 months, 29% over 3 months |
| Ursini; 2021 [67] | Case series | Italy | Inflammatory arthritis and autoantibodies (FR, ACPA) | Mean of 33 days | 23 | 100% |
| Ursini; 2021 [68] | Cross-sectional observational study | Italy | Fibromyalgia | Mean of 6 months | 616 | 31% |
| Vaira; 2022 [69] | Cross-sectional observational study | Italy | Arthralgia | >6 Months | 431 | 18% |
| Vogler; 2022 [70] | Case series | Germany/Italy | Inflammatory arthritis | >4weeks | 10 | 10 (6 without underlying RMD, 4 with underlying RMD) |
| Wang; 2021 [71] | Cross-sectional observational study (electronic health records) | USA | Arthralgia | >50 days | 26,117 | 21% |
| Whittaker; 2021 [72] | Population based study | UK | Arthralgia | >4 weeks | 456,002 | 3% |
| Wong-Chew; 2022 [73] | Prospective observational study | Mexico | Arthralgia | >30 days | 4,670 | 11% |
| Xu; 2021 [74] | Case series | China | Autoantibodies (RF) | Several months | 129 | 20% |
| Yaksi; 2022 [75] | Retrospective observational study | Turkey | Arthralgia | 4 months | 133 | 25% |
| Zayet; 2021 [76] | Retrospective observational study | France | Arthralgia | Mean of 289 days | 127 | 24% |
| Zuschlag; 2022 [77] | Retrospective observational study | Germany | Arthralgia | 12 months | 162 | 7% |
Legend: ACPA: anti-citrullinated protein antibodies; RF: rheumatoid factor; RMD: rheumatic musculoskeletal disease.