Journal Article

DZNE-2026-00194

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Reduced Hospital Incidence of Autoimmune Encephalitis During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Wickel, J. ; Chung, H.-Y. ; Konen, F. F. ; Rössling, R.DZNE* ; Bertolini, A. ; Kraft, A. ; Siebenbrodt, K. ; Bittner, S. ; Juranek, A. ; Brokbals, M. ; Räuber, S. ; Klausewitz, J. ; Pfeffer, L. K. ; Scherag, A. ; Menge, T. ; Finke, A. ; Doppler, K. ; Urbanek, C. ; Bien, C. G. ; Seifert-Held, T. ; Hoffmann, F. ; Wandinger, K.-P. ; Tauber, S. C. ; Süße, M. ; Lewerenz, J. ; Madlener, M. ; Rostasy, K. ; Prüss, H.DZNE* ; Sühs, K.-W. ; Kümpfel, T. ; Thaler, F. S. ; Leypoldt, F. ; Geis, C. ; group, G. s. (Collaboration Author)

2026
Wolters Kluwer Philadelphia, Pa.

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Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.1212/NXI.0000000000200555

Abstract: The aim of this study was to analyze changes in hospital incidence cases and disease severity of autoantibody-associated autoimmune encephalitis (AE) during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the prepandemic period.A retrospective multicenter study analyzed data from 24 centers within the German Network for Research on Autoimmune Encephalitis (GENERATE). Patients with a new diagnosis of definite antibody-positive autoimmune encephalitis from 2017 to 2022 were included and divided into prepandemic (2017-2019) and pandemic (2020-2022) periods.Among 392 patients, 227 were diagnosed before and 165 during the pandemic (mean 9.5 vs 6.9 per site, p = 0.04). A reduction was observed in cases with antibodies to neuronal surface antigens (174 vs 122 cases; mean 7.3 vs 5.1 per site, p = 0.02), while cases with antibodies against intracellular antigens remained stable (p = 0.40). No differences were observed in disease severity, age, or sex distribution between periods.This study provides clinical data on antibody-positive AE before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings do not support the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers autoantibody-associated AE or increases disease severity.

Keyword(s): Humans (MeSH) ; COVID-19: epidemiology (MeSH) ; Male (MeSH) ; Female (MeSH) ; Middle Aged (MeSH) ; Retrospective Studies (MeSH) ; Incidence (MeSH) ; Encephalitis: epidemiology (MeSH) ; Encephalitis: immunology (MeSH) ; Aged (MeSH) ; Adult (MeSH) ; Germany: epidemiology (MeSH) ; Hashimoto Disease: epidemiology (MeSH) ; Hashimoto Disease: immunology (MeSH) ; Autoantibodies: blood (MeSH) ; Severity of Illness Index (MeSH) ; Young Adult (MeSH) ; Aged, 80 and over (MeSH) ; Hospitalization: statistics & numerical data (MeSH) ; Autoantibodies

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Contributing Institute(s):

1. Autoimmune Encephalopathies (AG Prüß)

Research Program(s):

1. 353 - Clinical and Health Care Research (POF4-353) (POF4-353)

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Database coverage:
; ; Article Processing Charges ; Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List ; Current Contents - Clinical Medicine ; DOAJ Seal ; Essential Science Indicators ; Fees ; IF >= 5 ; JCR ; PubMed Central ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Web of Science Core Collection

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