Premium
Blood pressure changes during alemtuzumab infusion for multiple sclerosis patients
Author(s) -
Shosha Eslam,
Casserly Courtney,
Tomkinson Christine,
Morrow Sarah A.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1111/ene.14633
Subject(s) - medicine , blood pressure , alemtuzumab , multiple sclerosis , diastole , cohort , retrospective cohort study , anesthesia , cardiology , psychiatry , transplantation
Background and purpose Blood pressure (BP) changes during alemtuzumab infusions are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine BP changes during alemtuzumab infusions in persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). Methods This was a retrospective cohort review of systolic (S) and diastolic (D) BP in PwMS receiving alemtuzumab. Results Thirty‐one patients were identified; 22 (64.5%) were women. Mean age and disease duration were 35.2 ± 7.1 and 9.2 ± 5.4 years, respectively. There was no history of hypertension or vascular events. Mean baseline SBP was 119.8 ± 15.1 mmHg, 118.8 ± 14.3 mmHg and 106.5 ± 6.1 mmHg whilst mean DBP was 75.3 ± 9.2 mmHg, 74.1 ± 12.4 mmHg and 69.2 ± 4.3 mmHg at doses 1, 6 and 9, respectively. During the first cycle, SBP increased by 19.2 ± 9.4 mmHg, with comparable percentage increases over the five infusions (16%, 22%, 17%, 11%, 13%, respectively). DBP increased by 6.2 ± 3.8 mmHg with similar percentage increases over the five infusions (8.4%, 11.5%, 5.5%, 7%, 3%). For the second cycle, SBP increased by 16.9 ± 3.2 mmHg, with similar increases over the 3 days (12%, 15%, 17%). DBP increased by 5.4 ± 4.2 mmHg (11%, 9%, 12.8%). The third cycle demonstrated increased mean and percentage of SBP and DBP by 8.9 ± 2.3 mmHg (10%, 70%, 11.8%) and 4.2 ± 1.9 mmHg (3%, 2%, 6.5%), respectively. Collectively, for 31 patients, in the first cycle, mean SBP increased from 119.8 ± 15.1 mmHg to 138.8 ± 13 mmHg ( p ˂ 0.001 ) , whilst mean DBP increased from 74.5 ± 9.2 mmHg to 79.2 ± 9.1 mmHg ( p = 0.007). Overall, 17 (54.8%) patients had increasing BP by ≥20% and nine (29%) had increasing BP by ≥20 mmHg from baseline. Conclusions This demonstrates significant increases in BP during alemtuzumab infusions in PwMS.