Abstract: MORH-D-22-00049 Received: 20-Jan-2022; Accepted: 4-Aug-2022 Original Article Risk factors for hospitalization or mortality for COVID-19 in patients with rheumatic diseases: Results of a nation-wide JCR COVID-19 registry in Japan Okamoto5), Tatsuya Atsumi6), Tsutomu Takeuchi4) and The member of the JCR-COVID19 patient registry team 1) Department of Rheumatology and Infectious Diseases, Kitasato University, Kanagawa, Japan 2) Department of Internal Medicine, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, Oita, Japan 3) Department of Rheumatology and Nephrology, Chubu Rosai Hospital, Aichi, Japan 4) Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan 5) Department of Respiratory Medicine and Clinical Immunology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan 6) Department of Rheumatology, Endocrinology and Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido, Japan *Kenji Oku and Yasutaka Kimoto contributed equally to this article. Corresponding author: Takahiko Horiuchi, Department of Internal Medicine, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, Oita, Japan Email: horiuchi.takahiko.191@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp ABSTRACT Background: The incidence and prognosis of COVID-19 and rheumatic disease vary among ethnicities and regions. COVID-19 outcomes in rheumatic disease patients remain unclear, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. This study aimed to clarify the demographic and clinical factors that may influence COVID-19 prognosis in rheumatic disease patients. © Japan College of Rheumatology 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. Kenji Oku1)*, Yasutaka Kimoto2)*, Takahiko Horiuchi2), Mari Yamamoto3), Yasushi Kondo4), Masashi Methods: This was a case series of patients registered with the COVID-19 national registry of Japan College of Rheumatology between June 3, 2020, and June 30, 2021. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the risk of hospitalization or death. Age, sex, smoking status, rheumatic disease diagnosis, comorbidities, and rheumatic disease medications are taken immediately before infection was analyzed. Results: A total of 220 patients from 55 institutions in Japan were included in the study, among whom 186 and mainly comprised glucocorticoids, favipiravir, remdesivir, and tocilizumab. In the multiple logistic regression model, older age and a history of hypertension were associated with hospitalization, while older age was associated with mortality. No specific treatment was correlated with mortality or hospitalization by the multi-variate analysis. Conclusions: Older age and hypertension were associated with a poor prognosis in Japanese COVID-19 patients with CTD. Factors not directly related to CTD were closely associated with the prognosis. Keywords: COVID-19, Japan, Rheumatic disease, SARS-CoV2 In December 2019, the report of pneumonia of an unknown cause found in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China spread out to the world. The infection was found to be caused by a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the disease was named Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 spread rapidly all over the world, and on March 11, 2020, the WHO declared a pandemic. In Japan, the first case was reported on January 15, 2021, and by June 2021, 0.8 million people (6.7% of the..