To assess how many of our patients compliant on MS medicines developed COVID19 infection during the early pandemic.

MS is a debilitating progressive disease, and a variety of treatments are available including B cell depleting (BDT), interferons (IFN), glatiramer acetate (GA), adhesion inhibitors (NAT), S1P modulators (S1P), dimethyl fumarate (DM), and teriflunomide (TF). These treatments modulate the immune response and can predispose patients to infections like COVID19.  It is postulated that patients on BDT group are at higher risk of COVID19 infection and may have poor outcomes. 

In our neurology clinics at KPMAS, we followed 684 patients with MS compliant on treatment during the pandemic. As part of quality measures, we evaluated how many MS patients in various treatment groups developed COVID19 infection and their outcomes from January 1, 2020 to October 31, 2020.

The mean age of the 684 patients was 49.4 years; 360 blacks and 283 whites; 519 females and 165 males. 240 patients were on BDT, 222 on GA, 115 on IFN, 59 on DM, 29 on NAT, 11 on TF and 8 on S1P. 18 (2.6%) patients tested positive for COVID19.  6 patients (2.5%) were in BDT group, 6 (2.7%) in GA, 5 (4.3%) in IFN group, and 1 (9%) in the TF group tested positive for COVID19.  2 in the BDT group, and 1 in the GA group died. Those who died had significant comorbidities (including excessive smoking, obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, and aspiration pneumonia), prior to the infection.

We found that the rates of COVID19 infection in patients with MS in the BDT group were not out of proportion when compared to those on other treatments for MS. The poor outcomes were more likely to be related to underlying comorbidities.