• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Pandemic led to profound changes in multiple sclerosis clinical practice

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
April 19, 2021
in Chemistry
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
ADVERTISEMENT
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

UC Riverside-led national survey of MS specialists finds nearly 10% had been redeployed to the front lines of COVID-19 patient care

IMAGE

Credit: C. Rosema.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A survey of U.S. multiple sclerosis, or MS, specialist clinicians reveals the COVID-19 pandemic has created major changes in how they deliver care.

“Since the pandemic began, more than 95% of our survey respondents reported using telehealth platforms to provide care for their patients,” said Dr. Elizabeth Morrison-Banks, a health sciences clinical professor of neurology in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Riverside, who led the survey reported in the journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. “Approximately one half of the respondents were MS specialist neurologists, four out of five of whom indicated that COVID-19 had changed how they were recommending and prescribing MS disease-modifying therapies.”

During the pandemic, the MS specialist neurologists tended to prescribe fewer immunosuppressive agents. Survey respondents also commented on their perceived level of safety and support in the workplace during the pandemic. Most indicated they had access to adequate personal protective equipment, but fewer than 50% reported they had adequate ability to physically distance themselves at work. Nearly 10% of respondents reported they had been redeployed, most commonly to the front lines of COVID-19 care.

“Our findings point to profound changes in MS clinical practice since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Morrison-Banks, who directs the Multiple Sclerosis Program at UCR Health. “For better or for worse, when clinical practice patterns change, we should not be surprised to see corresponding changes in patient outcomes.”

Survey respondents included some of the most highly trained MS specialists in the country, considered to be thought leaders for other clinicians in their disciplines.

“Their collective shift, on average, in prescribing fewer of the highest-efficacy immunosuppressive therapies could potentially translate into patients experiencing more MS disease activity,” Morrison-Banks said. “We don’t, however, have enough information yet about COVID-19 outcomes in patients receiving immunosuppressive treatments. We suspect many respondents were decreasing use of certain MS disease-modifying therapies that suppress the immune system — for example, B-cell modulating agents — because they were concerned these agents could trigger severe complications from COVID-19.”

Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began, Morrison-Banks attended a virtual MS meeting in which the discussion turned to how MS specialists were responding to the pandemic.

“Sharing our mutual interest in how our colleagues around the country were dealing with the challenges of COVID-19 led to this national survey,” she said. “We did our best to collect and disseminate the survey’s data as early as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic with the hope that the results will be of use to clinicians and people living with MS. Our finding that nearly 10% of survey respondents reported being redeployed because of the viral pandemic led us to consider the extent to which the pandemic has challenged the capacity of the MS health care work force.”

Morrison-Banks stressed that people living with MS need consistent support from their clinicians to ensure they receive the best possible health care.

“We hope people living with MS will not avoid seeing their clinicians because they’re afraid of getting exposed to COVID-19,” she said. “Our survey suggests the vast majority of MS specialists are offering at least some telehealth services so their patients can feel safer as they continue receiving care.”

Next, the team plans to study how clinical practice patterns in MS care will change as more research data are published over the upcoming months, including from ongoing studies exploring how various MS disease-modifying therapies affect outcomes from SARS CoV-2 infection.

###

Morrison-Banks was joined in the research by Katelyn Michtich at the Southern California and Nevada chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society; and Dr. Carrie M. Hersh at the Lou Ruovo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas.

The research paper is titled “How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Changed Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Practice: Results of a Nationwide Provider Survey Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders.”

The University of California, Riverside (http://www.ucr.edu) is a doctoral research university, a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues critical to Inland Southern California, the state and communities around the world. Reflecting California’s diverse culture, UCR’s enrollment is more than 25,000 students. The campus opened a medical school in 2013 and has reached the heart of the Coachella Valley by way of the UCR Palm Desert Center. The campus has an annual statewide economic impact of almost $2 billion. To learn more, email [email protected].

Media Contact
Iqbal Pittalwala
[email protected]

Tags: Disabled PersonsHealth Care Systems/ServicesHealth ProfessionalsMedicine/HealthMortality/LongevityMusculatureneurobiologyNeurochemistryPainRehabilitation/Prosthetics/Plastic Surgery
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

View of the Falcon 9 rocket launch from a park in Ventura County

“Here Comes the Boom: Investigating the Impact of Rocket Launch Sonic Booms on Nearby Communities #ASA188”

May 19, 2025
Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array

New Data Streaming Software Pursues Light-Speed Transfer from Accelerator to Supercomputer

May 19, 2025

Wiley Expands KnowItAll Libraries with New Raman Data on Microplastics, Biopolymers, Polymers, Monomers, and Minerals

May 19, 2025

Unveiling Hidden Laws: Rice University Researchers Use Magnetic Particles to Detect Invisible Edge Currents

May 19, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Volatile-Rich Cap Found Above Yellowstone Magma

    666 shares
    Share 266 Tweet 166
  • Natural Supplement Shows Potential to Slow Biological Aging and Enhance Muscle Strength

    90 shares
    Share 36 Tweet 23
  • Analysis of Research Grant Terminations at the National Institutes of Health

    79 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20
  • Health Octo Tool Links Personalized Health, Aging Rate

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Oncologists’ Challenges Treating Puerto Rican Hispanics

DNA Nanoflower Oligo-PROTAC Targets FUS in Neurodegeneration

Physicians’ Consortium Urges NIH to Investigate Arizona State University for Alleged Research Misconduct

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.