Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May:58:243-245.
doi: 10.1016/j.mito.2021.03.011. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with primary mitochondrial diseases: Features and outcomes in Italy

Michelangelo Mancuso  1 , Chiara La Morgia  2 , Maria Lucia Valentino  3 , Anna Ardissone  4 , Costanza Lamperti  5 , Elena Procopio  6 , Caterina Garone  7 , Gabriele Siciliano  8 , Olimpia Musumeci  9 , Antonio Toscano  9 , Guido Primiano  10 , Serenella Servidei  10 , Valerio Carelli  3
Affiliations

SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with primary mitochondrial diseases: Features and outcomes in Italy

Michelangelo Mancuso et al. Mitochondrion. 2021 May.

Abstract

Patients with mitochondrial diseases, who usually manifest a multisystem disease, are considered potentially at-risk for a severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The objective of this study is to analyze the clinical features, prognosis and outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with primary mitochondrial diseases in a cohort of patients followed in Italy. We searched for patients with primary mitochondrial diseases and COVID-19 followed by the Italian Collaborative Network of Mitochondrial Diseases. In a total of 1843 patients followed by the National Network, we have identified from March 1st to January 30th, 2021, 27 SARS-CoV-2 infection. Most of the patients were pauci or asymptomatic (85%) and treated at home. The most common signs of COVID-19 were fever (78,9%), fatigue (47,4%), myalgia (42,1%), cough and headache (36,8%), and dyspnea (31,6%). Those who required COVID-19 therapy were treated with low-molecular-weight heparin, glucocorticoids, and antibiotics (mainly azithromycin) without serious side effects related to the therapy. Five patients (18,5%) clinically deteriorated during the infection, and one of them died for pneumonia. Primary mitochondrial diseases infected individuals seemed to be similarly affected by SARS-CoV-2 compared with the general Italian population in terms of clinical presentation and outcome.

Keywords: COVID-19; Comorbidities; Outcomes; Primary mitochondrial disease; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentage of COVID-19-related symptoms in the 27 symptomatic mitochondrial patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gorman G.S., Chinnery P.F., DiMauro S., Hirano M., Koga Y., McFarland R., Suomalainen A., Thorburn D.R., Zeviani M., Turnbull D.M. Mitochondrial diseases. Nat. Rev. Dis Prim. 2016;2(1) doi: 10.1038/nrdp.2016.80. - DOI - PubMed
    1. None E.E.T. Updated rapid risk assessment from ECDC on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: increased transmission in the EU/EEA and the UK. Eurosurveillance. 2020;25(12) doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.12.2003261. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mancuso, M., McFarland, R., Klopstock, T., et al. International Workshop:: Outcome measures and clinical trial readiness in primary mitochondrial myopathies in children and adults. Consensus recommendations. 16–18 November 2016, Rome, Italy. In: Neuromuscular Disorders. ; 2017. doi:10.1016/j.nmd.2017.08.006. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barca E., Long Y., Cooley V., Schoenaker R., Emmanuele V., DiMauro S., Cohen B.H., Karaa A., Vladutiu G.D., Haas R., Van Hove J.L.K., Scaglia F., Parikh S., Bedoyan J.K., DeBrosse S.D., Gavrilova R.H., Saneto R.P., Enns G.M., Stacpoole P.W., Ganesh J., Larson A., Zolkipli-Cunningham Z., Falk M.J., Goldstein A.C., Tarnopolsky M., Gropman A., Camp K., Krotoski D., Engelstad K., Rosales X.Q., Kriger J., Grier J., Buchsbaum R., Thompson J.L.P., Hirano M. Mitochondrial diseases in North America: an analysis of the NAMDC Registry. Neurol. Genet. 2020;6(2):e402. doi: 10.1212/NXG.0000000000000402. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ellul M.A., Benjamin L., Singh B., Lant S., Michael B.D., Easton A., Kneen R., Defres S., Sejvar J., Solomon T. Neurological associations of COVID-19. Lancet Neurol. 2020;19(9):767–783. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(20)30221-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types