MS Relapses and Disability

A recent study has taken an important first-step in understanding the impact of relapses on individuals with Multiple Sclerosis.  The study found that people with MS who experienced relapses within the first five years of onset had more severe disability in the short term, as compared to people who did not experience an early relapse.  The study was published in the November 4^th edition of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study defined a relapse as the worsening of neurological symptoms for more than 24 hours but without a fever or infection.   Relapse symptoms often improve within a few weeks, and until now, doctors have been curious and unsure about how much disability comes from these relapses and how much comes from the progression of the disease.

Scientists reviewed the medical records of 2,477 people with MS, from British Columbia in Canada, who experienced relapses.   They examined these records to determine whether the participants had disability severe enough to require the use of a cane for walking.  Then they looked to see whether the use of a cane was related to a relapse occurring within five years, five to ten years, or more than ten years after the onset of symptoms.  Participants were followed for approximately 20 years on average.

Researchers found that participants who had a relapse within five years of disease inception were at a 48 percent higher risk of needing a cane to walk within five years of disease onset than those who did not experience an early relapse.  Notably, the lasting effect of the relapse seemed to diminish over time.  Those with an early relapse who did not require the use of a cane after five years were at only a 10 percent higher risk of needing one ten years after disease onset than those without an early response.  Relapses experienced by patients under 25 years of age had a longer impact on disability as compared to those experienced in patients over 35 years of age.

These study results provide some more information that MS patients can use to determine what their risk is for disease progression.  It may assist in the development of targeted medications.  More information is always needed and desired to assist patients of a chronic disease such as MS, but this study certainly opens the door to future research on the topic of progression of MS.