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

Research output: Contribution to journalLetterResearchpeer-review

  • 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
  • And 24 others
  • 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

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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104072
JournalMultiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders
Volume66
ISSN2211-0348
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

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© 2022 Elsevier B.V.

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