Purpose: People with pre-existing conditions may be more susceptible to severe COVID-19 when infected by SARS-CoV-2. The relative risk and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection in people with rare diseases such as neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2), or schwannomatosis (SWN) is unknown.
Methods: We investigated the proportions of people with NF1, NF2, or SWN in the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) electronic health record data set who had a positive test result for SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19.
Results: The cohort sizes in N3C were 2501 (NF1), 665 (NF2), and 762 (SWN). We compared these with N3C cohorts of patients with other rare diseases (98-9844 individuals) and the general non-NF population of 5.6 million. The site- and age-adjusted proportion of people with NF1, NF2, or SWN who had a positive test result for SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 (collectively termed positive cases) was not significantly higher than in individuals without NF or other selected rare diseases. There were no severe outcomes reported in the NF2 or SWN cohorts. The proportion of patients experiencing severe outcomes was no greater for people with NF1 than in cohorts with other rare diseases or the general population.
Conclusion: Having NF1, NF2, or SWN does not appear to increase the risk of being SARS-CoV-2 positive or of being a patient with COVID-19 or of developing severe complications from SARS-CoV-2.
Keywords: COVID-19; Electronic health record (EHR); Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1); Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2); Schwannomatosis.
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