Author Of 1 Presentation
LB1249 - Types of pharmaceutical intervention in patients with Multiple sclerosis (MS): A fine line between immunosuppressive and risk of COVID-19 infection (ID 2135)
Abstract
Background
COVID-19, as an infectious respiratory disease, was identified in December 2019, which quickly spread around the world and developed to a pandemic. COVID-19 mainly affects people with underlying medical conditions and older individuals. Based on the reports of Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, 331,189 persons have been infected with COVID-19 in Iran until August 12, 2020.
Objectives
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease that requires long-term treatment with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) that needs special attention during this pandemic. According to the annual report of the Iranian MS Society, the number of people with MS (pwMS), is approximately 72,000. Immunosuppressive therapy is a primary pharmaceutical intervention that may provide some protection, or may worsen the severity of COVID-19 in pwMS. We believe that by evaluating the relevance between the routinely used MS DMTs associated with the risk of serious infections, an appropriate strategy can be adopted to protect them.
Methods
In the current study, information about 371 pwMS (63.3% female, mean age=39.4, mean follow-up=5.1 years) with a COVID-19 positive test (confirmed by RT-PCR on nasal and pharyngeal swabs) was conducted from two different hospitals that care for Coronavirus infected peoples in Tehran. The patients were taking these drugs: Synovex (195, 52.5%), Rebif (56, 15.2%), Fingolimod (41, 11%), Avonex (24, 6.4%), ReciGen (27, 7.5%), IFN-β (18, 4.9%), Ocrelizumab (3, 0.8%), and unexposed patients (7, 2%).
Results
When diagnosing associations with individual infections, exposure to any of DMTs was associated with a lower risk of pneumonia compared with no DMT exposure. Besides, exposure to fingolimod and Ocrelizumab were associated with an increased risk of an upper respiratory infection when compared to no exposure or other drug exposure.
Conclusions
By analyzing MS DMTs, we thought that IFN-β is associated with a lower risk of pneumonia due to its antiviral effect. Thus, Interferon Beta Drugs can provide a less experienced risk in confronting with COVID-19.