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Multicenter Study

DMTs and Covid-19 severity in MS: a pooled analysis from Italy and France

Maria Pia Sormani et al. Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2021 Aug.

Abstract

We evaluated the effect of DMTs on Covid-19 severity in patients with MS, with a pooled-analysis of two large cohorts from Italy and France. The association of baseline characteristics and DMTs with Covid-19 severity was assessed by multivariate ordinal-logistic models and pooled by a fixed-effect meta-analysis. 1066 patients with MS from Italy and 721 from France were included. In the multivariate model, anti-CD20 therapies were significantly associated (OR = 2.05, 95%CI = 1.39-3.02, p < 0.001) with Covid-19 severity, whereas interferon indicated a decreased risk (OR = 0.42, 95%CI = 0.18-0.99, p = 0.047). This pooled-analysis confirms an increased risk of severe Covid-19 in patients on anti-CD20 therapies and supports the protective role of interferon.

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Conflict of interest statement

M.P.S. reports a grant from Roche to cover Musc‐19 data management; Roche produces ocrelizumab, which is one of the DMTs assessed in this study. The other authors have nothing to report.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fixed effect meta‐analysis (inverse of variance weighting) including EDSS of multivariate ordinal logistic models investigating the association between Covid‐19 severity and PwMS characteristics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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