The impact of ocrelizumab on health-related quality of life in individuals with multiple sclerosis

Bonnie I Glanz; Jonathan Zurawski; Emily C Casady; Rebecca Shamah; Mira Weiner; Tanuja Chitnis; Howard L Weiner; Brian C Healy

doi:10.1177/20552173211007523

The impact of ocrelizumab on health-related quality of life in individuals with multiple sclerosis

Mult Scler J Exp Transl Clin. 2021 May 18;7(2):20552173211007523. doi: 10.1177/20552173211007523. eCollection 2021 Apr-Jun.

Authors

Bonnie I Glanz¹, Jonathan Zurawski¹, Emily C Casady, Rebecca Shamah, Mira Weiner¹, Tanuja Chitnis¹, Howard L Weiner¹, Brian C Healy¹

Affiliation

¹ Brigham Multiple Sclerosis Center, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Background: Ocrelizumab is approved for the treatment of both relapsing and progressive multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objective: To examine the impact of ocrelizumab on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in individuals with MS.

Methods: Ninety-eight individuals with relapsing and 32 with progressive MS were enrolled. Participants were administered a battery of patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures at their first ocrelizumab infusion, and infusions at 6 and 12 months. PRO measures included the Medical Outcomes Study SF-36 and Neuro-QoL.

Results: At baseline, participants had low mean scores across HRQOL domains. After 12 months, increases were observed on SF-36 Role-Physical, General Health, Vitality, Role-Emotional, Mental health and Mental Component Summary. On Neuro-QoL, improvements were seen in Positive Affect, Anxiety, Emotional and Behavioral Dyscontrol and Fatigue. Several demographic and clinical characteristics were associated with HRQOL at baseline. The strongest associations were between physical HRQOL measures and measures of MS disability. Associations between the longitudinal change in HRQOL scores and baseline demographic and clinical characteristics were mild.

Conclusions: We observed significant improvements across multiple mental HRQOL domains at 12 months in individuals treated with ocrelizumab. These findings support the use of HRQOL measures to provide a subjective measure of treatment impact that complements traditional outcomes.

Keywords: Multiple sclerosis; health-related quality of life; ocrelizumab; patient-reported outcome measures.