DMTs and Covid‐19 severity in MS: a pooled analysis from Italy and France

• Main Authors: Maria Pia Sormani, Marco Salvetti, Pierre Labauge, Irene Schiavetti, Helene Zephir, Luca Carmisciano, Caroline Bensa, Nicola De Rossi, Jean Pelletier, Cinzia Cordioli, Sandra Vukusic, Lucia Moiola, Philippe Kerschen, Marta Radaelli, Marie Théaudin, Paolo Immovilli, Olivier Casez, Marco Capobianco, Jonathan Ciron, Maria Trojano, Bruno Stankoff, Alain Créange, Gioacchino Tedeschi, Pierre Clavelou, Giancarlo Comi, Eric Thouvenot, Mario Alberto Battaglia, Thibault Moreau, Francesco Patti, Jérôme De Sèze, Celine Louapre, the Musc‐19, the Covisep study groups
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2021-08-01
• Series: Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1002/acn3.51408

Abstract We evaluated the effect of DMTs on Covid‐19 severity in patients with MS, with a pooled‐analysis of two large cohorts from Italy and France. The association of baseline characteristics and DMTs with Covid‐19 severity was assessed by multivariate ordinal‐logistic models and pooled by a fixed‐effect meta‐analysis. 1066 patients with MS from Italy and 721 from France were included. In the multivariate model, anti‐CD20 therapies were significantly associated (OR = 2.05, 95%CI = 1.39–3.02, p < 0.001) with Covid‐19 severity, whereas interferon indicated a decreased risk (OR = 0.42, 95%CI = 0.18–0.99, p = 0.047). This pooled‐analysis confirms an increased risk of severe Covid‐19 in patients on anti‐CD20 therapies and supports the protective role of interferon.