Author Of 3 Presentations
P0152 - Serum Neurofilament levels of multiple sclerosis patients before and after treatment with injectable therapies (ID 1095)
Abstract
Background
A well-established neurochemical biomarker for axonal damage is the light chain of the axonal structural protein neurofilament (NfL), which can now also be reliably quantified in serum using highly sensitive methods. Serum NfL has been shown to correlate with neuroaxonal damage in multiple sclerosis (MS) and various other neurological diseases. While serum NfL is now regularly reported in clinical approval studies, there is a lack of longitudinal data from patients treated with established basic immunotherapies outside of study conditions.
Objectives
In this open label observational study, the dynamics of serum NfL and its potential prognostic significance will be evaluated to assess whether the longitudinal measurement of serum NfL may serve as a prognostic parameter for disease activity and therapy response.
Methods
In total 34 patients with early relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) were included. The follow-up period was 24 months and patients received intermediate visits (including serum collection) at baseline and after 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months. Therapy with glatiramer acetate was initiated in 20 patients and with interferon-beta in 12 patients. The course of the patients was characterized by disability progression (EDSS), disease activity and MRI parameters.
Results
Overall, serum NfL levels were higher at times with a current relapse event than at times without relapse (12.8 pg/ml vs. 9.7 pg/ml, p= 0.011). At follow-up, patients without relapse showed significantly reduced serum NfL at 9 months compared to baseline (p< 0.05), independent of the type of basic immunotherapy. This was not the case in patients with relapse activity within 12 or 24 months. In addition, serum NfL was also reduced at 12 months in patients with stable EDSS compared to baseline (p= 0.013). This effect was not seen in the group with stable EDSS at 24 months or in patients with EDSS progression.
Conclusions
In this explorative observational study, our data suggest that in addition to MRI the longitudinal measurement of serum NfL may be useful to monitor disease activity and therapy response. Stable or reduced serum NfL over time may be associated with a favourable disease course of MS.
P0707 - Costs and health-related quality of life in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and MOG-antibody associated disease (CHANCENMO-Study) (ID 1015)
- M. Hümmert
- L. Schöppe
- J. Bellmann-Strobl
- N. Siebert
- F. Paul
- A. Duchow
- H. Pellkofer
- T. Kuempfel
- J. Havla
- S. Jarius
- B. Wildemann
- F. Then Bergh
- M. Pawlitzki
- L. Klotz
- I. Kleiter
- M. Stangel
- S. Gingele
- M. Weber
- J. Faiss
- R. Pul
- A. Walter
- U. Zettl
- M. Senel
- J. Stellmann
- V. Häußler
- K. Hellwig
- I. Ayzenberg
- O. Aktas
- M. Ringelstein
- O. Schreiber-Katz
- C. Trebst
Abstract
Background
Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-antibody associated disease (MOG-AD) are orphan diseases with high impact on quality of life and to date unknown socio-economic burden.
Objectives
The aim of this study was to evaluate costs and health-related quality of life of NMOSD and MOG-AD from the societal perspective.
Methods
In a multicenter cross-sectional study throughout Germany between 04/2017 and 04/2019, the primary data on retrospective consumption of medical and non-medical resources and work ability related to NMOSD and MOG-AD were assessed via standardized and pre-tested paper-based patient questionnaires. Health-related quality of life was captured by the EuroQoL Group EQ-5D-5L questionnaire. Clinical data were retrieved from the Neuromyelitis Optica Study Group (NEMOS) database. Patient recruitment took place at 17 German NEMOS centers. Costs were analyzed in EUR for 2018.
Results
During the recruitment period, 218 of 275 adult patients were screened for eligibility. 212 patients (80.2% women; mean age 49 ± SD 15 years; mean disease duration 9 ± SD 8.5 years; Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 3.7 ± SD 2.1) were analyzed. The mean total annual per capita cost of illness accounted for EUR 59 576 and the mean index value of the EQ-5D-5L was 0.693. Given an estimated prevalence of NMOSD in Germany of 1.3/100 000, the annual burden from the societal perspective adds to EUR 64.3 Mio for Germany. The most important cost drivers were informal care costs (27.6% of total costs), indirect costs (23.3%; particularly loss of salary) and drugs, especially immunotherapeutics (16.4%). Costs showed a significant positive correlation with disease severity (p<0.0001); in the EDSS 6.5-8.5 subgroup the annual costs were EUR 129 436. Moreover, the health-related quality of life revealed a negative correlation with disease severity (p<0.0001); in the EDSS 6.5-8.5 subgroup the mean index value was 0.195.
Conclusions
These German data from the era without approved standard medications show enormous effects of the disease on costs and quality of life and might be helpful for estimating the impact and cost-effectiveness of new therapeutic approaches.
P0742 - Pain, depression and quality of life in NMOSD: a cross-sectional study of 166 AQP4-antibody seropositive patients in Europe (ID 1645)
Abstract
Background
“Spinal pain”, girdle-like dysesthesia, and painful spasms were noted already in earliest disease descriptions in the 18th century. Nowadays it has become clear that pain is a frequent and one of the most disabling symptoms in these patients. Due to the rarity of NMOSD most previous studies of pain and depression were relatively small or included a mixed population AQP4-IgG-seropositive and seronegative patients, while recent clinical trials clearly indicate that pathogenetic mechanisms are different in these forms.
Objectives
To evaluate prevalence, clinical characteristics and predictive factors of pain, depression and their impact on the quality of life (QoL) in a large European seropositive neuromyelitis optica spectrum disease (NMOSD) cohort.
Methods
We included 166 patients with aquaporin-4-seropositive NMOSD from 13 tertiary referral centers of Neuromyelitis Optica Study Group (NEMOS). Clinical data, including expanded disability status scale and localization of spinal lesions on MRI, were retrieved from the NEMOS database or local electronic patient records. Data on pain, depression and quality of life were captured by self-reporting questionnaires.
Results
125 (75.3%) patients suffered from chronic NMOSD-associated pain. Of these, 65.9% had neuropathic pain, 68.8% reported spasticity-associated pain and 26.4% painful tonic spasms. Number of previous myelitis attacks (OR 1.27, p=0.018) and involved upper thoracic segments (OR 1.31, p=0.018) were the only predictive factors for chronic pain. Interestingly, the latter was specifically associated with spasticity-associated (OR 1.36, p=0.002), but not with a neuropathic pain. 39.8% suffered from depression (moderate to severe in 51.5%). Pain severity (OR 1.81, p<0.001) and especially neuropathic character (OR 3.44, P<0.001) were strongly associated with depression. 70.6% of patients with moderate or severe depression and 42.5% of those with neuropathic pain had no specific medications. 64.2% of those under symptomatic treatment still reported moderate to severe pain. Retrospectively, 39.5% of pain-sufferers reported improvement of pain after start of immunotherapy: 37.3% under rituximab, 40.0% under azathioprine, 33.3% under mycophenolate mofetil and 66.7% under tocilizumab. However, there was no difference in terms of pain prevalence or intensity in patients with different immunotherapies. Pain intensity, walking impairment and depression could explain 56% of the physical QoL variability, while depression was the only factor, explaining 46% of the mental QoL variability.
Conclusions
Myelitis episodes involving upper thoracic segments are main drivers of pain in NMOSD. Although pain intensity was lower than in previous studies, pain and depression remain undertreated and strongly affect QoL. Interventional studies on targeted treatment strategies for pain are urgently needed in NMOSD.