Abstract

Background

Due to their health condition, patients with neuromuscular diseases (NMD) are at greater risk of developing serious complications with COVID-19. The objective of this study was to analyze the prevalence of COVID-19 among NMD patients and the risk factors for its impact and severity during the first wave of the pandemic. Clinical data were collected from NMD-COVID-19 patients, between March 25, 2020 and May 11, 2020 in an anonymous survey carried out by expert physicians from the French Health Care Network Filnemus.

Results

Physicians reported 84 patients, including: 34 with myasthenia gravis, 27 with myopathy and 23 with neuropathy. COVID-19 had no effect on NMD for 48 (58%) patients and 48 (58%) patients developed low COVID-19 severity. COVID-19 caused the death of 9 (11%) NMD patients. Diabetic patients were at greater risk of dying. Patients with diabetes, hypertension or severe forms of NMD had a higher risk of developing a moderate or severe form of COVID-19. In our cohort, corticosteroids and other immunosuppressants were not significantly associated with higher COVID-19 severity for acquired NMD.

Conclusion

During this period, a small percentage of French NMD patients was affected by COVID-19 compared to the general French population and COVID-19 had a limited short-term effect on them. Diabetes, hypertension and a severe degree of NMD were identified as risk factors of unfavorable outcome following COVID-19. Conversely, in our cohort of patients with acquired NMD, corticosteroids or other immunosuppressants did not appear to be risk factors for more severe COVID-19.

Details

Title
A multicenter cross-sectional French study of the impact of COVID-19 on neuromuscular diseases
Author
Lucie Isoline Pisella; Fernandes, Sara; Solé, Guilhem; Stojkovic, Tanya; Tard, Céline; Chanson, Jean-Baptiste; Bouhour, Françoise; Salort-Campana, Emmanuelle; Guillemette Beaudonnet; Debergé, Louise; Duval, Fanny; Aude-Marie Grapperon; Masingue, Marion; Nadaj-Pakleza, Aleksandra; Péréon, Yann; Audic, Frédérique; Behin, Anthony; Friedman, Diane; Magot, Armelle; Jean-Baptiste Noury; Souvannanorath, Sarah; Karim Wahbi; Jean-Christophe, Antoine; Bigaut, Kévin; Jean-Philippe Camdessanché; Cintas, Pascal; Debs, Rabab; Espil-Taris, Caroline; Kremer, Laurent; Kuntzer, Thierry; Laforêt, Pascal; Laugel, Vincent; Mallaret, Martial; Michaud, Maud; Nollet, Sylvain; Svahn, Juliette; Vicart, Savine; Villar-Quiles, Rocio Nur; Desguerre, Isabelle; Adams, David; Segovia-Kueny, Sandrine; Merret, Géraldine; Hammouda, Elhadi; Molon, Annamaria; Attarian, Shahram  VIAFID ORCID Logo 
Pages
1-9
Section
Research
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
BioMed Central
e-ISSN
17501172
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-021-02090-y
ProQuest document ID
2599128870
Copyright
© 2021. This work is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.