For a study, researchers aimed to confirm the use of the Overall Disability Sum Score (ODSS) for standardized clinical assessment of neurological involvement in patients with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), as well as its relationship with treatment response and long-term outcomes. Patients with EGPA who were sent to the tertiary vasculitis center were assessed retrospectively. The Vasculitis Damage Index and the ODSS were used to measure patients’ neurological damage and impairment. The study comprised 50 patients with EGPA with a median follow-up of 75 months (9–180 months). Twenty-five (50%) acquired peripheral neuropathy, 17 (68%) had mono neuritis multiplex, and 8 (32%) had symmetric polyneuropathy. Patients with neurological involvement were older (56.3±13.4 vs. 44.4±12.1 years, P<0.0009), had a higher prevalence of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody positivity (48% vs. 16%, P=0.015), and were more likely to have renal involvement (24% vs. 0%, P=0.022). Within six months of treatment, there was a substantial drop in ODSS, which went from (4.2±2.4 to 2.9±1.5) (P=0.0001), although only a modest declining trend was found over the long term. Despite being in remission from active vasculitis, all patients experienced neurological damage and disability. Patients with an ODSS greater than three at baseline (n=13 [52%]) maintained a higher score at the last test (P<0.001), indicating a poor treatment response. Furthermore, an ODSS of more than 3 was shown to be related to higher neurological relapses (53.8% vs. 0%, P=0.027).
Overall Impairment Sum Score might be a quick, simple, and reliable tool for assessing the level of disability and nerve damage caused by vasculitis-related neurological involvement and predicting improvement and risk of neurological deterioration at the time of presentation.
Reference:journals.lww.com/jclinrheum/Abstract/2018/06000/Overall_Disability_Sum_Score_for_Clinical.6.aspx
