%0 Meta-Analysis
%T Occupational outcomes of people with multiple sclerosis during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review with meta-analysis.
%A Vitturi BK
%A Rahmani A
%A Montecucco A
%A Dini G
%A Durando P
%J Front Public Health
%V 11
%N 0
%D 2023
%M 38089033
%F 6.461
%R 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1217843
%X People with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) are vulnerable to unfavorable occupational outcomes and the COVID-19 pandemic brought major consequences on people's professional lives. In this view, we decided to investigate the occupational outcomes of PwMS during the COVID-19 pandemic.<BR>We performed a systematic review with meta-analysis searching key terms in four databases. We initially included any peer-reviewed original article that enrolled adult patients with the diagnosis of MS and assessed any occupational variable during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were no time limits and no language restrictions. The primary outcomes were the prevalence of unemployment, retirement and employment status change among people with MS during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other outcomes included the modality and characteristics of work: type of work, full-time work, part-time work and remote work. We also searched for data from studies that addressed any change in the work status due to the COVID-19 outbreak.<BR>We identified 49 eligible articles comprising a total sample size of 17,364 individuals with MS. The pooled prevalence of unemployment and retirement was 0.47 (95% CI = 0.42-0.53). The pooled prevalence of PwMS who were unemployed or retired was positively associated with the progressive phenotype of the disease (p = 0.017) and the use of glatiramer acetate (p = 0.004), but negatively associated with hospitalization due to COVID-19 (p = 0.008) and the use of immunosuppressants (p = 0.032), siponimod (p < 0.001), and cladribine (p = 0.021). The pooled proportion of PwMS that reported any change of the employment status during the COVID-19 pandemic was 0.43 (95% CI = 0.36-0.50) while the pooled prevalence of PwMS who worked remotely during this period was 0.37 (95% CI = 0.15-0.58). The change in employment status was negatively associated with the duration of MS (p = 0.03) but positively associated with the progressive phenotype of the disease (p < 0.001).<BR>Our seminal review may serve as an example of how patients with neurological diseases or disabilities in general may have their jobs impacted in a pandemic and foster the context of global socio-economic crisis.