December 11, 2021 by Skylar Jeremias
Although obesity, diabetes, and certain comorbidities were all detected as risk factors for severe COVID-19 among people with multiple sclerosis (MS), other long-suspected risk factors, such as smoking and use of most disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), were not.
Smoking and use of most disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) were not among the risk factors identified to have an association with severe COVID-19 in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a recent literature review.
The review, which was published in Revue Neurologique, highlighted several risk factors in patients with MS that are linked to severe COVID-19 outcomes, including obesity, diabetes, and pulmonary and cardiovascular comorbidities, all of which have been suspected to be risk factors since the onset of the pandemic. However, the revelation that smoking and use of several immunosuppressive therapies are not among those risk factors may help guide clinicians to better assess individualized risk profiles and better manage patients in clinical practice.
“Close observations of these [people with MS] and raising awareness among themselves and their relatives to take the protective measures seriously, may be of more importance than the general population or other [people with MS],” wrote the investigators.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, concerns were raised among the general MS population and their physicians regarding disabilities, immunosuppressive therapies, and higher susceptibility to infections and serious outcomes. Results from studies investigating the possible relationships between COVID-19 risk factors and MS have been divergent as most have been primary observational investigations.
The investigators conducted a comprehensive search of 4 literature databases in May 2021 to find observational studies assessing COVID-19 severity among adults (over 18 years). The studies also had to include laboratory- or radiology-based diagnoses or high clinical suspicion of COVID-19, categorize different severity levels of COVID-19, estimate the outcome of possible predefined risk factors, and be published in English. During the analysis, COVID-19 severity was classified as either mild or severe, with the later indicating that a patient was hospitalized for COVID-19–related complications, regardless of admission to an intensive care unit or final disease outcomes.
Overall, 13 eligible studies with data on a total of 4728 patients were included in the final analysis. The studies either comprised data from multiple countries or hailed from Italy, France, Turkey, Spain, the Netherlands, Iran, Spain, or the United States. There were 22 risk factors assessed across the studies.
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