ArticleMultiple sclerosis and related disorders2022
Has the pandemic changed treatment strategy in multiple sclerosis?
Article in Multiple sclerosis and related disorders, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- MS treatment trends before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from the German MS Register.Journal of neurology · 2025Article
- A multi-centre longitudinal study analysing multiple sclerosis disease-modifying therapy prescribing patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of neurology · 2024Article
- Ocrelizumab use in multiple sclerosis: a real-world experience in a changing therapeutic scenario.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2024Article
- Alemtuzumab treatment for multiple sclerosis in Austria: An observational long-term outcome study.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2024Observational
- Disease-modifying therapy initiation patterns in multiple sclerosis in three large MS populations.Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders · 2024Article
- Onboarding of siponimod in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis patients in Australia: Novel, real-world evidence from the MSGo digital support programme.Multiple sclerosis journal - experimental, translational and clinicalArticle
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundSocial distancing measures during the Covid-19 pandemic reduced access to health care and concerns were raised over the safety of immunosuppressive disease modifying treatments (DMT) for multiple sclerosis (MS).
objectiveTo investigate changes in DMT prescription before and during the pandemic in a large and well-characterized real-world cohort of MS patients.
methodsFrom the Vienna MS database (VMSD) we extracted MS patients who were initiated on a new DMT (both treatment-naïve and switching) between January 1st 2017 and December 31st 2021. Two time periods were defined: 1) the preCovid-19 era (January 1st 2017 to March 15th 2020, i.e. the day of the first lockdown in Austria) and the Covid-19 era (March 16th 2020 to December 31st 2021). Average annualized DMT prescription rates were descriptively compared between the two periods.
resultsThe average annualized number of prescriptions in the preCovid-19 era was 90.3/year and dropped to 74.8/year (-17.2%) in the Covid-19 era, driven by a marked reduction to 41.7/year (-54%) in the first nine months of the Covid-19 era, partly offset by a rise to 101 in 2021. Use of alemtuzumab (-64%), antiCD20 (-49%), cladribine (-46%), and S1PM (-38%) was reduced, while natalizumab increased by 24%. Lower efficacy treatments remained stable.
conclusionsThe pandemic coincides with a drop in DMT prescription, most markedly for immunosuppressive high-efficacy treatments, strongly suggesting the pandemic as the causal factor. If and how much this affects long-term outcome is yet to be determined.
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