Frequency and Referral Patterns of Neural Antibody Studies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience From an Autoimmune Neurology Center.
Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm
; 10(4)2023 07.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37311644
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To determine whether the frequency of paraneoplastic or autoimmune encephalitis antibodies examined in a referral center changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.METHODS:
The number of patients who tested positive for neuronal or glial (neural) antibodies during pre-COVID-19 (2017-2019) and COVID-19 (2020-2021) periods was compared. The techniques used for antibody testing did not change during these periods and included a comprehensive evaluation of cell-surface and intracellular neural antibodies. The chi-square test, Spearman correlation, and Python programming language v3 were used for statistical analysis.RESULTS:
Serum or CSF from 15,390 patients with suspected autoimmune or paraneoplastic encephalitis was examined. The overall positivity rate for antibodies against neural-surface antigens was similar in the prepandemic and pandemic periods (neuronal 3.2% vs 3.5%; glial 6.1 vs 5.2) with a mild single-disease increase in the pandemic period (anti-NMDAR encephalitis). By contrast, the positivity rate for antibodies against intracellular antigens was significantly increased during the pandemic period (2.8% vs 3.9%, p = 0.01), particularly Hu and GFAP.DISCUSSION:
Our findings do not support that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a substantial increase of known or novel encephalitis mediated by antibodies against neural-surface antigens. The increase in Hu and GFAP antibodies likely reflects the progressive increased recognition of the corresponding disorders.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Encefalitis Antirreceptor N-Metil-D-Aspartato
/
COVID-19
/
Neurología
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article