Background: Governments around the world have imposed varied containment measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 infection. The psychological impact could be highly negative in patients with neurologic condition like Parkinson’s Disease (PD).
Methods: We prospectively evaluated symptoms of depression and anxiety in 50 (26 females ; mean age at 60.4) non demented Moroccan PD patients, using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), at the beginning and after 6 weeks of a full confinement.
Results: At the first evaluation, 28% of patients had depression while 32% had anxiety. After 6 weeks of confinement, some patients got worse and others got better scores but no significant statistical difference for both troubles was seen.
Conclusion: Our results show that there is no significant impact of 6 weeks of confinement on overall anxiety and depression scores. However, confinement could have an unexpected positive psychological impact on a significant number of PD patients.
Natalizumab (NTZ) as a high-cost long-term disease-modifying treatment indicated as a basic mono-therapy in patients with active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) has provided clinical efficiency. We evaluated clinical and radiological features and outcome of our NTZ MS patients. All RRMS patients defined by the 2010 McDonald criteria who received Natalizumab (NTZ) treatment any time since 2013. Variables analysed included age, gender, disease duration, MRI, Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), previous treatment, relapse rate before and after receiving NTZ, adverse events, complications, and reasons of discontinuation. Of 16 patients in our study, the female-to-male ratio was 2:1. The mean age was 33 years, mean disease duration was 12 years with a range of (2-25). At the time of this analysis, 14 patients had received 1 year of NTZ. Approximately 80% of these patients were relapse-free after 1 year. The relapse rate after treatment was significantly lower (0,13 Vs 4,5). Fifteen patients haveN9 T2 lesions at the beginning of treatment with only 7 patients that had Gd-enhancing lesions on MRI, 87% had achieved radiological NEDA (No evidence disease activity). We didn't notice any opportunistic infections such as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), or any adverse events. However, treatment was discontinued in 2 cases because of pregnancy in 1 patient and high positive JC virus serology with a high risk of PML in the other. NTZ significantly reduces progression of disability, occurrence of clinical relapse and formation of new lesions at MRI in our MS patients. However, PML increasing risk require a longer-term follow-up.
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