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Title: | The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on an international rehabilitation study in MS: the CogEx experience | Authors: | Feinstein, Anthony Amato, Maria Pia Brichetto, Giampaolo Chataway, Jeremy Chiaravalloti, Nancy D. Cutter, Gary Dalgas, Ulrik DeLuca, John Farrell, Rachel FEYS, Peter Filippi, Massimo Freeman, Jennifer Inglese, Matilde Meza, Cecilia Motl, Rob Rocca, Maria Assunta Sandroff, Brian M. Salter, Amber |
Issue Date: | 2022 | Publisher: | SPRINGER HEIDELBERG | Source: | JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, 269 (4), p. 1758-1763 | Abstract: | Pandemic restrictions have led to changes in therapy plans and disrupted rehabilitation services for people with multiple sclerosis. CogEx is an international, multicentre MS dual-intervention (cognitive rehabilitation, aerobic exercise) randomized, controlled rehabilitation trial confined to people with progressive disease. The primary outcome is cognition (processing speed).There are 11 treatment sites in six countries with participants required to make 27 site visits over 12 weeks. Collectively, the large, in-person demands of the trial, and the varying international policies for the containment of COVID-19, might disproportionately impact the administration of CogEx. During the first lockdown, all centres closed on average for 82.9 (SD =24.3) days. One site was required to lockdown on two further occasions. One site remained closed for 16 months. Ten staff (19.2%) were required to quarantine and eight staff (15.4%) tested positive for COVID. 10 of 264 (3.8%) participants acquired COVID-19. All survived. The mean duration of enrollment delay has been [236.7 (SD = 214.5) days]. Restarting participants whose interventions were interrupted by the pandemic meant recalculating the intervention prescriptions for these individuals. While the impact of the pandemic on CogEx has been considerable, all study sites are again open. Participants and staff have shown considerable flexibility and resilience in keeping a complex, international endeavour running. The future in general remains uncertain in the midst of a pandemic, but there is cautious optimism the study will be completed with sufficient sample size to robustly evaluate our hypothesis and provide meaningful results to the MS community on the impact of these interventions on people with progressive MS. | Notes: | Feinstein, A (corresponding author), Univ Toronto, Dept Psychiat, Toronto, ON M5R 3B6, Canada.; Feinstein, A (corresponding author), Sunnybrook Hlth Sci Ctr, Toronto, ON M5R 3B6, Canada.; Feinstein, A (corresponding author), Sunnybrook Res Inst, Dept Psychiat, 2075 Bayview Ave,FG 16, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada. ant.feinstein@utoronto.ca |
Keywords: | Multiple sclerosis;COVID-19;Neurorehabilitation;Cognition;Exercise;Multisite;International | Document URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1942/36008 | ISSN: | 0340-5354 | e-ISSN: | 1432-1459 | DOI: | 10.1007/s00415-021-10881-3 | ISI #: | WOS:000714835200001 | Rights: | The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2021. Free access | Category: | A1 | Type: | Journal Contribution | Validations: | ecoom 2022 |
Appears in Collections: | Research publications |
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