Ambulatory disability and older age are associated with worse clinical severity of COVID-19, including death, among patients with MS, according to a study published in JAMA Neurology. Researchers examined outcomes and risk factors associated with COVID-19 clinical severity in a cohort of 1,626 patients with MS. Patients were assessed after a minimum of 7 days from initial symptom onset and after sufficient time had passed to observe the COVID-19 disease course through resolution of acute illness or death. Clinical outcome was classified with four levels of severity: not hospitalized, hospitalization only, admission to intensive care unit/required ventilator support, and death. The overall mortality rate was 3.3% in the cohort. After adjustment for other risk factors, both ambulatory disability and older age were independently associated with elevated odds of all clinical severity levels compared with those not hospitalized (being non-ambulatory: odds ratios: 2.8, 3.5, and 25.4 for hospitalization only, intensive care unit/required ventilator support, and death, respectively; age [every 10 years]: odds ratios, 1.3, 1.3, and 1.8, for hospitalization only, intensive care unit/required ventilator support, and death, respectively).
