you mean comparing before and after COVID? longitudinal is better, but those take more time to produce so these kinds of studies come first. Also, almost everyone has COVID now, so it's even harder to do that.
It's a lil crazy that people are so willing to say well we let it rip, and because of that, we can ignore any problematic findings because we can't compare current populations easily and across long periods of time. The most likely hypothesis, based on known mechanisms and studies, is that yes, COVID infection will fuck you up. This is the case with most human pathogenic viruses, even ones that have a "mild" initial presentation like EBV (multiple schlerosis), CMV (wears down immune system in old age), Chickenpox (shingles), HPV (cancer), or HIV (immune dysfunction).
The fun thing is, COVID sometimes has an acute life-threatening aspect as well, so it is probably double the fun.
No, I just mean that the study observed an increase in incidence of autoimmune disorders which cannot be explained by COVID because of the window of collection.
> Over the study period, age and sex standardised incidence rates of any autoimmune diseases increased (IRR 2017–19 vs 2000–02 1·04 [95% CI 1·00–1·09]).
I completely agree with COVID both being generally dangerous even outside of the acute infection and that it has likely caused a substantial increase in autoimmune disorders. This study just indicates that there are likely other environmental factors at play as well that predate COVID.
"Method A cohort was selected from German routine health care data covering 38.9 million individuals. Based on documented diagnoses, we identified individuals with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 through December 31, 2020. Patients were matched 1:3 to control patients without COVID-19. Both groups were followed up until June 30, 2021. We used the four quarters preceding the index date until the end of follow-up to analyze the onset of autoimmune diseases during the post-acute period. Incidence rates (IR) per 1000 person-years were calculated for each outcome and patient group. Poisson models were deployed to estimate the incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of developing an autoimmune disease conditional on a preceding diagnosis of COVID-19."
Sorry I missed this - I was referring to the study in the OP, not the study you linked. I agree that the study you linked indicates a higher incidence of autoimmune conditions among those who had covid.
It's a lil crazy that people are so willing to say well we let it rip, and because of that, we can ignore any problematic findings because we can't compare current populations easily and across long periods of time. The most likely hypothesis, based on known mechanisms and studies, is that yes, COVID infection will fuck you up. This is the case with most human pathogenic viruses, even ones that have a "mild" initial presentation like EBV (multiple schlerosis), CMV (wears down immune system in old age), Chickenpox (shingles), HPV (cancer), or HIV (immune dysfunction).
The fun thing is, COVID sometimes has an acute life-threatening aspect as well, so it is probably double the fun.