Disease characteristics of NMOSD and their relationship with disease burden: Observations from a large single-center...

To assess the demographic, clinical, and outcome data in patients with NMOSD across a single-center adult cohort and find out associations, if any, with the disease burden.

Neuromyelitis Optica spectrum disorder is an autoimmune condition with unpredictable course and relapses. The clinical and economic burden of NMOSD has been studied less.

A retrospective analysis of patients diagnosed with NMOSD according to 2015 criteria at the UT Health Houston (UTH) system from 2010 to 2024 was done.

Of the 68 patients, aged 40.03 yrs. (SD = 14.05), 56 (82.35 %) were females, and 17 (25.75 %) had a median household income below 2 times the poverty threshold. 51 (76.11 %) had positive aquaporin4 antibodies, 39 had optic neuritis (57.35 %), and 29 (42.63 %) had myelitis. We classified total relapses into less than 3 vs more than 3, cumulative days of hospitalization into less than 5 vs more than 5, and readmission frequency as less than 1 vs more than 1 per year. The majority of cases had less than 3 relapses (S_N = 38 vs 11, M_N = 22 vs 6, p > .05), less than 5 days of cumulative hospitalizations (S_N = 29 vs 6, M_N = 15 vs 5, p > .05), and less than 1 readmissions in a year (S_N 15 vs 5, p > .05, M_N = 14 vs 10, p > .05).

The severity of the disease can be attributed to the major clinical criteria at the time of diagnosis. This can be helpful to identify cases that may have a higher disease burden to the patient and the hospital. Larger studies are needed to confirm the same.