COVID-19 susceptibility and outcomes among patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD): A systematic review and meta-analysis

To be or not to be vaccinated: The risk of MS or NMOSD relapse after COVID-19 vaccination and infection

“…The frequency of relapses within one month of vaccination in the largest one was 4% (one out of 26 patients) ( Dinoto et al., 2021 ), which corresponds with our findings. COVID-19 infection itself has already been demonstrated as a risk factor for NMOSD relapses ( Cai et al., 2021 ) and above all, the largest systematic review suggests that one-third of COVID-19 infected NMOSD patients were hospitalised, approximately 15% admitted to ICU and more than 3% died ( Barzegar et al., 2021a ). Based on this unfortunately scarce data, the potential benefits of vaccination seem to clearly overcome the risk of relapses in NMOSD patients.…”

“…The risks, however, need to be balanced against the risks of COVID-19 itself, leading to morbidity and death even in people without disabilities. Moreover, numerous data is demonstrating a higher risk of more severe COVID-19 course in patients with MS and NMOSD treated with high-dose glucocorticoids or anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies ( Barzegar et al., 2021a ; Prosperini et al., 2022 ; Stastna et al., 2021 ) and there are also data showing an association between systemic infection and risk of MS or NMOSD relapse ( Correale et al., 2006 ; Ma et al., 2020 ).…”

“…To our knowledge, data assessing the effect of COVID-19 infection and vaccination on the risks of relapse in MS and NMOSD are scarce, inconsistent, and mostly evaluated on relatively small cohorts ( Achiron et al., 2021 ; Barzegar et al., 2021b ; Cai et al., 2021 ; di Filippo et al., 2021 ; Dinoto et al., 2021 ; Etemadifar et al., 2021 ; Fragoso et al., 2021 ; Jovicevic et al., 2021 ; Lotan et al., 2021b , 2021a ). Thus, in the light of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic situation and the continuing need for vaccination, we aimed to evaluate the short-term risks of clinical relapse in the 90-day period after the first dose COVID-19 vaccine administration and COVID-19 infection as well as the safety profile of COVID-19 vaccines in patients with MS and NMOSD.…”

Olfactory dysfunction in patients with multiple sclerosis; A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…MS is a lifelong condition that can affect the brain and spinal cord, leading to a wide range of symptoms, including problems with vision, motor control, cognitive abilities, balance, and sensation. Olfaction is also affected in MS and olfaction impairment renders a lower quality of life in MS patients as olfaction ability is in direct contact with patients’ physical, behavioral, and cognitive state [ 2 , 4 , 5 ]. Olfaction is shown to be prone to impairment in three main aspects, including threshold, discrimination, and identification.…”

Unraveling the Mystery of COVID-19 Postvaccination Myocarditis: A Systematic Review of Current Cases

“…Second, it is noteworthy to mention that the second dose triggers a more immense immune response compared to dose 1, elevating the chances of the vaccinated experiencing cardiac side effects [ 15 ]. Third, it is logical to infer those patients whose myocarditis was confirmed following the second dose stood a higher chance of being referred to the research teams of the reviewed articles, implying that, in most of the reviewed cases, follow-up surveys were conducted more rigorously after the second dose and side effects experienced in the period between the two doses could have been assigned to contributing factors other than the vaccine [ 3 , 16 ].…”