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Dr. Gudesblatt scans the journals, so you don’t have to!

Mark Gudesblatt, MD
The COVID-19 viral pandemic has disrupted and adversely influenced clinical care of people with MS (PwMS) for the past several years but continues to impact future monitoring and care decisions for the near future and possibly even longer. There are multiple available and effective disease modifying therapies (DMT) for PwMS to choose from that have varying reported impact on relapse rates, disability and MRI changes. The choice of DMT and timing of DMT change remains complicated in PwMS. Now clinicians also have to consider and incorporate into routine care the impact of the DMT choice or continued treatment of the choice on many factors including: potential COVID-19 infection, the efficacy of vaccination response, as well as concerns related to vaccine hesitancy and continued viral mutations as they affect vaccination efficacy.  Recent publications (Capone F et al) support both the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccinations, (mostly BNT162b2) demonstrating varied generation of sufficient protective humoral response in 140 PwMS DMT treated or untreated (87%) with a very notable reduction of both vaccine generated protection in those PwMS treated with either Fingolimod (22%) or Ocrelizumab (66%) where failure to produce protective response was noted (P < .01). In addition, these same PwMS had significantly lower IgG levels against SARS-CoV2 (P < .01). 

 

In another study (Maniscalco GT et al) exploring vaccine efficacy in 149 PwMS, treatment with interferon (IFN)-beta 1A resulted in improved anti-spike IgG specific humoral response levels than was seen in healthy controls response (median, 1,916 vs 1,089; P = .029) whereas reduced anti-spike IgG levels were significantly lower in patients treated with Cladribine (P = .002), Fingolimod (P < .0001), or Ocrelizumab (P < .0001). Clinical decisions regarding DMT treatment choice and DMT change focused solely on relapse rate and MRI are now insufficient without considering and incorporating vaccine response into the decision-making process. Further information across all DMT’s is needed to allow improved decision making regarding DMT choice.  Confounding this problem is the frequency of unrecognized cognitive impairment (CI) in PwMS and the impact CI has on the shared decision-making process beyond EDSS. 

 

In another study (Cavaco S et al) regarding CI in 408 PwMS, the presence of cognitive dysfunction was not only predictive of a higher risk for conversion from relapsing-remitting disease to progressive disease (adjusted odds ratio, 2.29; P = .043) and shorter survival (e.g. higher risk for death), (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.07; P = .006). The impact of such CI and progressive CI on vaccine hesitancy is unknown. Monitoring disease impact and change in cognitive function in PwMS remains another great unmet need in routine care of PwMS and evaluating the impact of CI on vaccine hesitancy and the shared decision-making process also requires further exploration and incorporation into routine care. Care of PwMS and the choice of DMT should hinge not only considerations about efficacy and safety but now must also incorporate patient vaccine hesitancy and response to vaccination.

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Dr. Gudesblatt scans the journals, so you don’t have to!
Dr. Gudesblatt scans the journals, so you don’t have to!

Mark Gudesblatt, MD
The COVID-19 viral pandemic has disrupted and adversely influenced clinical care of people with MS (PwMS) for the past several years but continues to impact future monitoring and care decisions for the near future and possibly even longer. There are multiple available and effective disease modifying therapies (DMT) for PwMS to choose from that have varying reported impact on relapse rates, disability and MRI changes. The choice of DMT and timing of DMT change remains complicated in PwMS. Now clinicians also have to consider and incorporate into routine care the impact of the DMT choice or continued treatment of the choice on many factors including: potential COVID-19 infection, the efficacy of vaccination response, as well as concerns related to vaccine hesitancy and continued viral mutations as they affect vaccination efficacy.  Recent publications (Capone F et al) support both the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccinations, (mostly BNT162b2) demonstrating varied generation of sufficient protective humoral response in 140 PwMS DMT treated or untreated (87%) with a very notable reduction of both vaccine generated protection in those PwMS treated with either Fingolimod (22%) or Ocrelizumab (66%) where failure to produce protective response was noted (P < .01). In addition, these same PwMS had significantly lower IgG levels against SARS-CoV2 (P < .01). 

 

In another study (Maniscalco GT et al) exploring vaccine efficacy in 149 PwMS, treatment with interferon (IFN)-beta 1A resulted in improved anti-spike IgG specific humoral response levels than was seen in healthy controls response (median, 1,916 vs 1,089; P = .029) whereas reduced anti-spike IgG levels were significantly lower in patients treated with Cladribine (P = .002), Fingolimod (P < .0001), or Ocrelizumab (P < .0001). Clinical decisions regarding DMT treatment choice and DMT change focused solely on relapse rate and MRI are now insufficient without considering and incorporating vaccine response into the decision-making process. Further information across all DMT’s is needed to allow improved decision making regarding DMT choice.  Confounding this problem is the frequency of unrecognized cognitive impairment (CI) in PwMS and the impact CI has on the shared decision-making process beyond EDSS. 

 

In another study (Cavaco S et al) regarding CI in 408 PwMS, the presence of cognitive dysfunction was not only predictive of a higher risk for conversion from relapsing-remitting disease to progressive disease (adjusted odds ratio, 2.29; P = .043) and shorter survival (e.g. higher risk for death), (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.07; P = .006). The impact of such CI and progressive CI on vaccine hesitancy is unknown. Monitoring disease impact and change in cognitive function in PwMS remains another great unmet need in routine care of PwMS and evaluating the impact of CI on vaccine hesitancy and the shared decision-making process also requires further exploration and incorporation into routine care. Care of PwMS and the choice of DMT should hinge not only considerations about efficacy and safety but now must also incorporate patient vaccine hesitancy and response to vaccination.

Mark Gudesblatt, MD
The COVID-19 viral pandemic has disrupted and adversely influenced clinical care of people with MS (PwMS) for the past several years but continues to impact future monitoring and care decisions for the near future and possibly even longer. There are multiple available and effective disease modifying therapies (DMT) for PwMS to choose from that have varying reported impact on relapse rates, disability and MRI changes. The choice of DMT and timing of DMT change remains complicated in PwMS. Now clinicians also have to consider and incorporate into routine care the impact of the DMT choice or continued treatment of the choice on many factors including: potential COVID-19 infection, the efficacy of vaccination response, as well as concerns related to vaccine hesitancy and continued viral mutations as they affect vaccination efficacy.  Recent publications (Capone F et al) support both the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccinations, (mostly BNT162b2) demonstrating varied generation of sufficient protective humoral response in 140 PwMS DMT treated or untreated (87%) with a very notable reduction of both vaccine generated protection in those PwMS treated with either Fingolimod (22%) or Ocrelizumab (66%) where failure to produce protective response was noted (P < .01). In addition, these same PwMS had significantly lower IgG levels against SARS-CoV2 (P < .01). 

 

In another study (Maniscalco GT et al) exploring vaccine efficacy in 149 PwMS, treatment with interferon (IFN)-beta 1A resulted in improved anti-spike IgG specific humoral response levels than was seen in healthy controls response (median, 1,916 vs 1,089; P = .029) whereas reduced anti-spike IgG levels were significantly lower in patients treated with Cladribine (P = .002), Fingolimod (P < .0001), or Ocrelizumab (P < .0001). Clinical decisions regarding DMT treatment choice and DMT change focused solely on relapse rate and MRI are now insufficient without considering and incorporating vaccine response into the decision-making process. Further information across all DMT’s is needed to allow improved decision making regarding DMT choice.  Confounding this problem is the frequency of unrecognized cognitive impairment (CI) in PwMS and the impact CI has on the shared decision-making process beyond EDSS. 

 

In another study (Cavaco S et al) regarding CI in 408 PwMS, the presence of cognitive dysfunction was not only predictive of a higher risk for conversion from relapsing-remitting disease to progressive disease (adjusted odds ratio, 2.29; P = .043) and shorter survival (e.g. higher risk for death), (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.07; P = .006). The impact of such CI and progressive CI on vaccine hesitancy is unknown. Monitoring disease impact and change in cognitive function in PwMS remains another great unmet need in routine care of PwMS and evaluating the impact of CI on vaccine hesitancy and the shared decision-making process also requires further exploration and incorporation into routine care. Care of PwMS and the choice of DMT should hinge not only considerations about efficacy and safety but now must also incorporate patient vaccine hesitancy and response to vaccination.

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