1. Frequency and Referral Patterns of Neural Antibody Studies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience From an Autoimmune Neurology Center.
- Author
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Ariño H, Ruiz García R, Rioseras B, Naranjo L, Martinez-Hernandez E, Saiz A, Graus F, and Dalmau J
- Subjects
- Humans, Pandemics, Autoantibodies, Antigens, Surface, Referral and Consultation, COVID-19 epidemiology, Anti-N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Encephalitis, Neurology
- Abstract
Objective: To determine whether the frequency of paraneoplastic or autoimmune encephalitis antibodies examined in a referral center changed during the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: The number of patients who tested positive for neuronal or glial (neural) antibodies during pre-COVID-19 (2017-2019) and COVID-19 (2020-2021) periods was compared. The techniques used for antibody testing did not change during these periods and included a comprehensive evaluation of cell-surface and intracellular neural antibodies. The chi-square test, Spearman correlation, and Python programming language v3 were used for statistical analysis., Results: Serum or CSF from 15,390 patients with suspected autoimmune or paraneoplastic encephalitis was examined. The overall positivity rate for antibodies against neural-surface antigens was similar in the prepandemic and pandemic periods (neuronal 3.2% vs 3.5%; glial 6.1 vs 5.2) with a mild single-disease increase in the pandemic period (anti-NMDAR encephalitis). By contrast, the positivity rate for antibodies against intracellular antigens was significantly increased during the pandemic period (2.8% vs 3.9%, p = 0.01), particularly Hu and GFAP., Discussion: Our findings do not support that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a substantial increase of known or novel encephalitis mediated by antibodies against neural-surface antigens. The increase in Hu and GFAP antibodies likely reflects the progressive increased recognition of the corresponding disorders., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology.)
- Published
- 2023
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