Journal
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS JOURNAL
Volume 28, Issue 7, Pages 1051-1059Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/13524585211026272
Keywords
Multiple sclerosis; COVID-19; rituximab
Categories
Funding
- Swedish Research Council
- Swedish Brain Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The study aimed to analyze the association between MS disease-modifying therapy (DMT) exposure and hospitalization in patients with COVID-19. Among the 476 reported COVID-19 cases in MS patients in the Swedish MS registry, 61.3% were confirmed cases. Of these confirmed infections, 23.2% required hospitalization, with a higher hospitalization rate observed in patients on rituximab compared to other DMTs.
Background: The primary objective of this study was to analyse the association between multiple sclerosis (MS) disease-modifying therapy (DMT) exposure and hospitalisation in patients infected with COVID-19. Methods: Associations between MS DMT exposure and COVID-19 hospitalisation were analysed using univariable and multi-variable-clustered propensity score weighted logistic regression, where the models were clustered on the individual patients to control for patients contributing multiple COVID-19 episodes. Findings: As of 18 January 2021, a total of 476 reported COVID-19 cases had been recorded in MS patients in the Swedish MS registry. Of these, 292 (61.3%) had confirmed COVID-19. The mean value (standard deviation (SD)) age at infection was 44.0 years (11.6). Of the 292 confirmed infections, 68 (23.2%) required hospitalisation. A total of 49 of the 164 confirmed COVID-19 patients on rituximab at baseline (29.9%) required hospitalisation, compared to a rate of 12.7% for all other DMTs combined. Rituximab in confirmed COVID-19 patients was associated with 2.95 times the odds of hospitalisation relative to any other DMT combined (odds ratio = 2.95; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.48-5.87). Interpretation: Rituximab treatment, known to increase the risk of severe infections in general, also confers such a risk for MS patients with COVID-19, in comparison with other MS DMTs.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available