COVID-19 in patients with myasthenia gravis: Epidemiology and disease course.
Muscle Nerve
; 64(2): 206-211, 2021 08.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34031902
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION/AIMS:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, has become a global pandemic. Patients with myasthenia gravis (MG), often treated with immunosuppressants, might be at higher risk of developing COVID-19 and of demonstrating a severe disease course. We aimed to study prevalence and describe features of COVID-19 in MG patients.METHODS:
In May 2020, we conducted telephonic interviews with MG patients followed at our referral center. We collected structured data regarding MG and COVID-19, which was diagnosed as probable or confirmed according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control case definition. We compared confirmed-COVID-19 prevalence calculated from the beginning of the pandemic in MG patients with that of the overall Pavia district.RESULTS:
We interviewed 162 MG patients (median age, 66 y; interquartile range 41-77; males 59.9%), 88 from the Pavia district. Three patients had SARS-CoV-2-confirmed by polymerase chain reaction and eight had probable-COVID-19. In the Pavia district, the prevalence of confirmed-COVID-19 among MG patients (1/88, 1.14%) and overall population (4777/546 515, 0.87%) did not differ (P = .538). Higher Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America clinicalclass and the need for recent rescue treatment, but not ongoing immunosuppressive treatments, were associated with COVID-19 risk. Of 11 MG patients with probable/confirmed-COVID-19, 3 required ventilator support, and 2 elderly patients died of COVID-19 respiratory insufficiency. Only 1 of11 patients experienced worsening MG symptoms, which improved after increasing their steroid dose.DISCUSSION:
The risk of COVID-19 in MG patients seems to be no higher than that of the general population, regardless of immunosuppressive therapies. In our cohort, COVID-19 barely affected MG course.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Disease Progression
/
COVID-19
/
Myasthenia Gravis
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Muscle Nerve
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italia