The symptoms, clinical characteristics and hospital outcomes of multiple sclerosis patients admitted for COVID-19: A case-control study from Iran

ABSTRACT

Introduction: There is little information on the symptoms, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) who have the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) illness, especially for those admitted to the hospital. Objectives: Very little is currently known about the effects of COVID-19 on people with MS and vice versa. Aims: The purpose of this study was to determine the symptoms, clinical characteristics, and hospital outcomes of MS patients admitted to the hospital due to COVID-19. Methods: The current study is a multicenter case-control study that took place in Fars Province, Iran, from February 19 to November 20, 2020. All consecutive patients with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis were included, and all individuals with a history of MS were selected from the database. We also included two control groups with matching age and sex (patients with no history of an underlying disease and patients with a history of underlying disease). Results: From 38000 hospital admitted COVID-19 patients in the database, 25 had MS. Diabetes was the most common underlying disease in both MS patients and control groups, 11.5 % and 39.7 %, respectively. Fever and cough were the most common symptoms in MS patients. However, respiratory distress and low arterial oxygen saturation (<93%) were the most common symptoms in both control groups. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that the risk of loss of smell in MS patients was approximately 5 times (OR 4.95 CI 1.04-23.58 P=.04) and loss of taste 13 times (OR 12.9 CI 1.12-147.9 P=.04) higher than total control groups. There is no statistically significant difference in clinical outcome between MS patients and control groups, including ICU admission, the need for intubation, and in-hospital death. Conclusions: While the risk of loss of smell and loss of taste was higher in MS patients, hospital outcomes indices were not different.