Placing a feeding tube before age 50 in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with dysphagia, or difficulties swallowing, may extent their life by more than two years, a study suggests. These findings may help doctors and patients with decisions about feeding tube use, but more work is needed to better understand…

Physical symptoms and poorer coping mechanisms are major risk factors for unemployment in younger and older people with multiple sclerosis (MS), while psychological problems have the greatest impact in middle-aged patients’ unemployment, a study suggests. These findings highlight that unemployment risk factors vary with age and call for interventions…

A question raised by neurologist Gavin Giovannoni on the Barts-MS blog lit up my radar recently. Dr. G asked whether “elderly” people with MS should be treated differently than those who are younger. The question arises because a case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a serious brain disease,…

Higher intellectual ability and physical activity during childhood and adolescence may help protect against the development of cognitive impairment in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), an Italian study suggests. These findings, though preliminary, suggest that intellectual enrichment and early-life physical activity may reduce the likelihood of developing cognitive deficits…

A genetic variant in the galanin gene (GAL) appears to be a risk factor for more severe multiple sclerosis (MS), nearly doubling the risk of rapidly progressive disease, particularly in patients whose disease onset occurs…

Age at disease onset is tightly linked to clinical outcomes in multiple sclerosis patients, a Swiss study in those on disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) reports. It found a risk of continuous relapses more likely in pediatric MS, and that of disease progression in those with adult-onset MS. Patients at age 40…

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) are more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases than the general population, according to a large Swedish nationwide study. This risk is higher for patients diagnosed before age 40, the study found. Fredrik Piehl, MD, PhD, from Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden, presented the…

Women with multiple sclerosis (MS), and people who stay in a relapsing stage or use disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for longer periods are less likely to transition to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) than others, according to a study based on the Italian MS registry. But patients whose…

Our brains — much like our joints — stiffen with age, causing brain stem cells called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) to lose their ability to proliferate and transform into oligodendrocytes, the cells that produce myelin, an essential component for nerve cell communication, a study found. But tricking OPCs into sensing a…

Women with multiple sclerosis (MS) are more likely to experience sexual dysfunction and sexual distress than those without the disease, a study reports. According to researchers, the high prevalence of sexual problems among these women may be linked to their age, degree of physical disability, and depression. The…

Body mass index (BMI), but not the age at which people start puberty, could increase the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS), a study suggests. The study, “Effect of age at puberty on risk of multiple sclerosis: A mendelian randomization study,” was published in the journal …

Asthma is significantly more common among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) than in the general population, a new study shows. The increased prevalence was especially evident in younger and elderly MS patients, regardless of race or sex. The study was presented at ACTRIMS 2019, the Americas…

As the protective molecular caps of our genetic information — called telomeres — become shorter in certain immune cells, the extent of multiple sclerosis (MS) disability progression increases, regardless of age, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) reported. The findings were presented at the annual…

Patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, particularly those with multiple conditions who are more severely disabled, are more likely to be using several medications at the same time, a study shows. These findings highlight the need for physicians to be aware of what medications their patients are taking to avoid…

Risk factors often associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), such as genetic background, obesity and smoking, contribute independently to the disease’s variability and may be an early influence on progression, a study reported. The retrospective study, “Multiple sclerosis risk factors contribute to onset heterogeneity,” was published in the journal …

A higher frequency of early relapses, as well as a larger volume of lesions and older age at disease onset, increase the risk of transitioning from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) to secondary progressive MS (SPMS), according to a study. The study, “Early cortical pathology and…

Often-overlooked MRI Signal May Aid in Early Diagnosis of MS, Other Brain Conditions, Study Suggests A part of an MRI scan that radiologists call a “background signal” is what’s being looked at. It’s usually ignored because the signal doesn’t seem to change even when a patient is…

A recent study found that elder individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience significantly less severe depressive symptoms and better quality of life than their younger counterparts. The research, “Subjective well-being differs with age in multiple sclerosis: A brief report,” was published in the journal Rehabilitation Psychology.

The levels of three small, regulatory RNA molecules — long non-coding RNAs — are deregulated in blood samples of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a study reports. The long non-coding RNAs are involved in the regulation of the natural immune response and DNA-damage response, supporting the theory that these…

New retrospective analysis of the Phase 3 CLARITY study (NCT00213135) shows that treatment with Mavenclad (cladribine tablets) improved annualized relapse rate and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) outcomes in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), regardless of their age. Moreover, the effectiveness of Mavenclad was comparable to five standard therapies…

Age at disease onset, number of early relapses, and the extent of brain damage at baseline can help identify those who are at high risk of progression from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis into the secondary progressive phase of the disease, a new study shows. The study with that finding, “…

A lot of people with multiple sclerosis take disease-modifying therapies to reduce the inflammation associated with the disease — but in many patients, the treatments’ effectiveness wanes at a certain points. When that occurs, the question is whether to stop taking these treatments, known as DMTs. A study reports that patients’…

The Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) has awarded five young investigators for their research work on multiple sclerosis (MS). The awards were presented at the ACTRIMS Forum 2018, held Feb. 1-3 in San Diego,…

Older patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) have reduced risk of experiencing disease relapse, according to a study presented at the 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting, being held Oct. 25-28, in Paris, France. The study, “Relapses in patients with secondary progressive MS: a matter of disease duration…

Patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis have more severe cognitive impairment than those with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, according to a German study that analyzed published data on the topic. PPMS patients did especially poorly on verbal learning and verbal memory tests, said the study, which suggested that PPMS patients need disease management that specifically focuses on their cognitive difficulties, which do not necessarily correlate with the degree of overall disability. The study gathered data from 47 previously published studies in an attempt to analyze potential differences in cognitive performance between patients with RRMS and PPMS. These studies included 4,460 patients — 3,456 with RRMS and 1,004 with PPMS — and plenty of information about patient and disease features. This allowed researchers to perform a meta-analysis of pooled data from various studies, that is considered the highest level of scientific evidence. Researchers noted that PPMS patients performed worse on cognitive tests, both when considering global scores and tests of specific cognitive domains. Yet both groups scored similarly in levels of anxiety, depression and fatigue. Using statistical analyses, the research team found that differences in sex, education, disease duration, manual dexterity and fatigue could not explain the poorer test results among PPMS patients. On the other hand, PPMS patients were, on average, older than those with relapsing disease, and the team found that this difference accounted for poorer test results in cognitive tests of processing speed and working memory. Yet differences in other cognitive aspects also remained when researchers took age into account. Differences in disability, measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale, could also not explain why PPMS patients performed worse on the cognitive tests. A detailed look revealed that the largest differences between RRMS and PPMS patients were in verbal learning and verbal memory, along with the age-associated difference in processing speed. Depression and anxiety also brought down processing speed, researchers said, even though the two groups did not differ in their levels of anxiety and depression. The data shows that cognitive impairment in MS is not directly related to the course of the disease. Research may explain differences in other factors including genetics, the degree of brain tissue loss and medications.

Fatigue and limited leg function are more common among older people with progressive multiple sclerosis than in those with relapsing forms of the disease, according to a study. In fact, they are a sign that the disease of a person with relapsing MS is becoming worse by reaching the progressive MS…

I’m 68 years old.  I’ve had multiple sclerosis since I was 32. I’m not sure where I expected this disease would take me when I was diagnosed 36 years ago, but I hoped that MS wouldn’t steal too much of my life from me.  I certainly never thought of…

A study analyzing results from three Phase 3 clinical trials shows that Gilenya (fingolimod) effectively prevents relapses in different types of relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, with the therapy being most efficient in younger patients and those without previous treatment. The findings highlight the importance of starting treatment early, and not…

There is a greater number of older people with multiple sclerosis than ever before, and the number is likely to continue growing. That combination, of old age with MS, puts people at risk of significantly reduced physical function than those without the disease. This was a key finding of a…

Most research in multiple sclerosis (MS) has focused on the impact of the disease on the lower extremities. To balance this, researchers at Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital in Connecticut thoroughly characterized upper arm and hand functions in MS patients, finding that disease duration and disability level differently affected various…