Ocrelizumab Extended Interval Dosing in Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: An Italian Experience.

BACKGROUND: The intervals between two courses of anti CD20 therapies in the COVID19 pandemic era provided the opportunity to individually delay therapy, known as extended interval dosing (EID). METHODS: We collect real-world data on patients with primary progressive MS (PPMS) treated with Ocrelizumab (OCR) during the COVID'19 pandemic. The observation period in which the standard interval dosing (SID) or EID occurred (always a maintenance cycle, 600 mg) was from January 2020 to June 2021. All patients had two infusions during the observation period. Our first aim was to compare confirmed disability progression (CDP) between SID and EID patients. RESULTS: From a total cohort of 410 patients treated with OCR, 96 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. All patients received two infusions during the index window, 71 received only SID infusions whilst 25 received at least one EID infusion throughout the entire follow-up. During the entire available follow-up (median 10 months, IQR 7-11), CDP was recorded in 5 patients (3/71, 4.2% SID and 2/25, 8% EID, V-Cramer = 0.141, p-value = 0.167). EID regimen did not influence the risk of CDP during the investigated follow up. CONCLUSION: In our multicentre real-world cohort, the EID regimen in PPMS patients did not result in increased CDP during the available follow-up.

Personality Traits and Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis: A Narrative Review.

(1) Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurodegenerative autoimmune disease. Fatigue is a prevalent and debilitating symptom that significantly impacts the quality of life of these patients. A relationship between personality traits and fatigue in MS has been hypothesized but not clearly defined. (2) Methods: A literature search was carried out from databases up to April 2023 for studies correlating personality traits and fatigue in patients suffering from MS. (3) Results: A total of ten articles was included; most of the studies depict a neuroticism-fatigue correlation; however, they were not consistent in terms of the fatigue, personality, and covariate assessments. (4) Conclusions: The clinical and methodological heterogeneity of the included studies prevented us from drawing any firm conclusion on the link between personality traits and fatigue in MS. Several models of personality and different fatigue assessments have been found. Despite this, a common pathway shows that the neuroticism trait or similar personality patterns has a role in fatigue diagnosis. This may be a useful target to improve the quality of life and enhance the modification of the disease treatment results. Further homogeneous and longitudinal studies are needed.