Severity of COVID19 infection among patients with multiple sclerosis treated with interferon-β

Steve Simpson-Yap; Ashkan Pirmani; Edward De Brouwer; Liesbet M Peeters; Lotte Geys; Tina Parciak; Anne Helme; Jan Hillert; Yves Moreau; Gilles Edan; Tim Spelman; Sifat Sharmin; Robert McBurney; Hollie Schmidt; Arnfin Bergmann; Stefan Braune; Alexander Stahmann; Rodden Middleton; Amber Salter; Bruce Bebo; Anneke van der Walt; Helmut Butzkueven; Serkan Ozakbas; Rana Karabudak; Cavit Boz; Raed Alroughani; Juan I Rojas; Ingrid van der Mei; Guilherme Sciascia do Olival; Melinda Magyari; Ricardo Alonso; Richard Nicholas; Anibal Chertcoff; Ana Zabalza; Georgina Arrambide; Nupur Nag; Annabel Descamps; Lars Costers; Ruth Dobson; Aleisha Miller; Paulo Rodrigues; Vesna Prčkovska; Giancarlo Comi; Tomas Kalincik

doi:10.1016/j.msard.2022.104072

Severity of COVID19 infection among patients with multiple sclerosis treated with interferon-β

Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2022 Oct:66:104072. doi: 10.1016/j.msard.2022.104072. Epub 2022 Jul 25.

Authors

Steve Simpson-Yap¹, Ashkan Pirmani², Edward De Brouwer³, Liesbet M Peeters⁴, Lotte Geys⁵, Tina Parciak⁴, Anne Helme⁶, Jan Hillert⁷, Yves Moreau³, Gilles Edan⁸, Tim Spelman⁷, Sifat Sharmin⁹, Robert McBurney¹⁰, Hollie Schmidt¹⁰, Arnfin Bergmann¹¹, Stefan Braune¹¹, Alexander Stahmann¹², Rodden Middleton¹³, Amber Salter¹⁴, Bruce Bebo¹⁵, Anneke van der Walt¹⁶, Helmut Butzkueven¹⁶, Serkan Ozakbas¹⁷, Rana Karabudak¹⁸, Cavit Boz¹⁹, Raed Alroughani²⁰, Juan I Rojas²¹, Ingrid van der Mei²², Guilherme Sciascia do Olival²³, Melinda Magyari²⁴, Ricardo Alonso²⁵, Richard Nicholas²⁶, Anibal Chertcoff²⁷, Ana Zabalza²⁸, Georgina Arrambide²⁸, Nupur Nag²⁹, Annabel Descamps³⁰, Lars Costers³⁰, Ruth Dobson³¹, Aleisha Miller³², Paulo Rodrigues³³, Vesna Prčkovska³³, Giancarlo Comi³⁴, Tomas Kalincik³⁵

Affiliations

¹ CORe, Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Australia; Neuroepidemiology Unit, Melbourne School of Population & Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Australia; Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Australia. Electronic address: steve.simpsonyap@unimelb.edu.au.
² University MS Center, (UMSC) Hasselt/Pelt, Belgium; Biomedical Research Institute - Data Science Institute, Hasselt University, Belgium; Biomedical Research Institute (BIOMED), Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building C, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium; Data Science Institute (DSI), Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building D, 3590, Diepenbeek, Belgium; ESAT-STADIUS, KU Leuven, Belgium.
³ ESAT-STADIUS, KU Leuven, Belgium.
⁴ University MS Center, (UMSC) Hasselt/Pelt, Belgium; Biomedical Research Institute - Data Science Institute, Hasselt University, Belgium; Biomedical Research Institute (BIOMED), Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building C, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium; Data Science Institute (DSI), Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building D, 3590, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
⁵ Biomedical Research Institute (BIOMED), Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building C, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium; Data Science Institute (DSI), Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building D, 3590, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
⁶ MS International Federation, United Kingdom.
⁷ Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Swedish MS Registry, Sweden; Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
⁸ Department of Neurology, CHU Pontchaillou, France.
⁹ CORe, Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
¹⁰ iConquerMS People-Powered Research Network, Accelerated Cure Project for MS, United States of America.
¹¹ NeuroTransData Study Group, NeuroTransData, Germany.
¹² German MS-Register by the National MS Society, MS Forschungs- und Projektentwicklungs-gGmbH, Germany.
¹³ UK MS Register, Swansea University, United Kingdom.
¹⁴ COViMS, United States of America; Division of Biostatistics, Washington University in St Louis, United States of America.
¹⁵ COViMS, United States of America.
¹⁶ Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Australia.
¹⁷ Amiri Hospital, Kuwait.
¹⁸ Department of Neurology, University of Hacettepe, Turkey.
¹⁹ Department of Neurology, Karadeniz Technical University, Turkey.
²⁰ Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey.
²¹ Neurology Department, Hospital Universitario de CEMIC, Argentina; RELACOEM, Argentina.
²² The Australian MS Longitudinal Study, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Australia.
²³ ABEM - Brazilian MS Patients Association, Brazil.
²⁴ The Danish Multiple Sclerosis Registry, Departement of Neurology, University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Denmark.
²⁵ RELACOEM, Argentina; Multiple Sclerosis University Center, Ramos Mejia Hospital - EMA, Argentina.
²⁶ UK MS Register, Swansea University, United Kingdom; Imperial College London, United Kingdom; Swansea University, United Kingdom.
²⁷ MS and Demyelinating Diseases. Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires, EMA, Argentina.
²⁸ Servei de Neurologia-Neuroimmunologia. Centre d'Esclerosi Múltiple de Catalunya, (Cemcat). Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca, Vall d'Hebron Hospital Universitari. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
²⁹ Neuroepidemiology Unit, Melbourne School of Population & Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
³⁰ icometrix, Belgium.
³¹ Queen Mary University London, United Kingdom.
³² Imperial College London, United Kingdom.
³³ QMENTA, Inc., Spain.
³⁴ Casa di Cura del Policlinico and Università Vita Salute San Raffaele, Italy.
³⁵ CORe, Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Australia; MS Centre, Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia.

Abstract

Background: Interferon-β, a disease-modifying therapy (DMT) for MS, may be associated with less severe COVID-19 in people with MS.

Results: Among 5,568 patients (83.4% confirmed COVID-19), interferon-treated patients had lower risk of severe COVID-19 compared to untreated, but not to glatiramer-acetate, dimethyl-fumarate, or pooled other DMTs.

Conclusions: In comparison to other DMTs, we did not find evidence of protective effects of interferon-β on the severity of COVID-19, though compared to the untreated, the course of COVID19 was milder among those on interferon-β. This study does not support the use of interferon-β as a treatment to reduce COVID-19 severity in MS.

Publication types

Letter

MeSH terms

Acetates
COVID-19*
Dimethyl Fumarate / therapeutic use
Glatiramer Acetate / therapeutic use
Humans
Immunosuppressive Agents / adverse effects
Interferon-beta / therapeutic use
Multiple Sclerosis* / chemically induced
Multiple Sclerosis* / complications
Multiple Sclerosis* / drug therapy
Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting* / chemically induced

Substances

Acetates
Immunosuppressive Agents
Glatiramer Acetate
Interferon-beta
Dimethyl Fumarate