Associations of Disease-Modifying Therapies With COVID-19 Severity in Multiple Sclerosis.
Steve Simpson YapEdward De BrouwerTomas KalincikNick RijkeJan A HillertClare WaltonGilles EdanYves MoreauTim SpelmanLotte GeysTina ParciakClement GautraisNikola LazovskiAshkan PirmaniAmin ArdeshirdavanaiLars ForsbergAnna GlaserRobert Nicholas McBurneyHollie SchmidtArnfin B BergmannStefan BrauneAlexander StahmannRodden M MiddletonSalter AmberRobert J FoxAnneke Van Der WaltHelmut ButzkuevenRaed AlroughaniSerkan OzakbasJuan I RojasIngrid van der MeiNupur NagRumen IvanovGuilherme Sciascia Do OlivalAlice Estavo DiasMelinda MagyariDoralina BrumMaria Fernanda MendesRicardo N AlonsoRichard S NicholasJohana BauerAníbal Sebastián ChertcoffAnna ZabalzaGeorgina ArrambideAlexander FidaoGiancarlo ComiLiesbet PeetersPublished in: Neurology (2021)
Using the largest cohort of people with MS and COVID-19 available, we demonstrated consistent associations of rituximab with increased risk of hospitalization, ICU admission, and need for artificial ventilation and of ocrelizumab with hospitalization and ICU admission. Despite the cross-sectional design of the study, the internal and external consistency of these results with prior studies suggests that rituximab/ocrelizumab use may be a risk factor for more severe COVID-19.