Hospital Militar Central Dr. Cosme Argerich, CABA, Argentina.
Centro Universitario de Esclerosis Múltiple, Hospital JM Ramos Mejía, CABA, Argentina.
Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2022 Jan;57:103368. doi: 10.1016/j.msard.2021.103368. Epub 2021 Nov 3.
Peripheral inflammation can exacerbate pre-existing lesions in the Central Nervous System (CNS) in the context of neurodegenerative diseases, including Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
To analyze the clinical effect of COVID-19 infection, as a generator of peripheral inflammation, in a MS patients group.
A retrospective analysis of 400 medical records of MS patients from a referral center was carried out. MS patients who presented COVID-19 were surveyed about symptoms exacerbation: type, duration and onset of exacerbation, previous vaccination against COVID-19 and MS severity. Clinical and demographic information from the medical records were included. Descriptive and inferential analysis were performed using the GraphPad Prism V6.
41 patients were included, 61% (n = 25) reported neurological worsening, 9.7% (n = 4) as relapses, and 7.3% (n = 3) required corticosteroids. We found significant differences in the EDSS between patients who exacerbated their MS symptoms and those who did not (p = 0.03). When performing a multivariate regression analysis, we found that EDSS was independently associated with the presence of exacerbations of MS in the context of SARS-CoV2 infection (OR = 2.44, p = 0.022).
This preliminary study suggests that COVID-19 infection could trigger exacerbations of MS symptoms. New studies are needed to elucidate the relationship between COVID-19 and MS.
外周炎症可在神经退行性疾病（包括多发性硬化症）的背景下加剧中枢神经系统（CNS）中的先前存在的病变。
分析 COVID-19 感染（作为外周炎症的激发因素）在多发性硬化症患者群体中的临床效应。
对来自转诊中心的 400 名多发性硬化症患者的病历进行回顾性分析。对出现 COVID-19 的多发性硬化症患者进行了症状加重调查：加重类型、持续时间和发病时间、之前针对 COVID-19 和多发性硬化症的疫苗接种情况以及多发性硬化症的严重程度。包括病历中的临床和人口统计学信息。使用 GraphPad Prism V6 进行描述性和推断性分析。
共纳入 41 名患者，61%（n=25）报告了神经功能恶化，9.7%（n=4）为复发，7.3%（n=3）需要皮质类固醇治疗。我们发现，在 EDSS 方面，出现多发性硬化症症状加重的患者与未出现症状加重的患者存在显著差异（p=0.03）。在进行多变量回归分析时，我们发现 EDSS 与 SARS-CoV2 感染背景下多发性硬化症的加重存在独立相关性（OR=2.44，p=0.022）。
这项初步研究表明，COVID-19 感染可能引发多发性硬化症症状的加重。需要进一步研究阐明 COVID-19 与多发性硬化症之间的关系。
