mortality

Cognitive Dysfunction Found to Increase Risk of Death in MS

Cognitive dysfunction in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) is predictive of worse outcomes, including clinical progression of the disease and a higher risk of mortality, according to a new study. “This review revealed that cognitive dysfunction … was associated with higher odds of transitioning from [a] relapsingā€“remitting course to…

Depression Greatly Raises Patients’ Risk of Vascular Disease, Death

Depression in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients greatly raises their risk ofĀ vascular disease and death by any cause, a study that compared this patient group with other patients and a matched public reported. Its researchers recommended further work to determine “whether effectively treating depression” might lower these risks for these…

Risk of Severe COVID-19 Not Raised by Immunosuppressive DMTs

Exposure to multiple sclerosis (MS) disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), and particularly immunosuppressive DMTs, does not increase the risk of developing a severe form of COVID-19, or of dying from the disease, when adjusting for known risk factors, an Austrian registry-based study found. These findings add to data showing no…

#ECTRIMS2018 ā€” Infections, Severe Disability Complications More Likely Causes of Death in MS Patients, Study Shows

Infections and complications from severe disability are the greatest contributors to mortality amongĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, according to a population-based study in British Columbia, Canada, which also found that that MS is a more common underlying cause of death among younger patients. The study, ā€œCauses that…

#MSParis2017 ā€“ Beta-Interferon Therapies May Increase Survival of MS Patients, Study Suggests

Long-term exposure of at least three years of beta-interferon therapies such as Rebif or AvonexĀ may increase the survival of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, a population-based study suggests. The study reporting the findings, titled ā€œBeta-interferon and mortality in multiple sclerosis: a population-based international study,ā€ was presented Friday at the ongoingĀ ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting…

MS-related Death Rate in British Military Is Much Higher Than in Other Professions, Study Finds

British military personnel are at significantly higher risk of dying from multiple sclerosis than people in other occupations, a study reports. University of Southampton researchers had done a previous study of mortality rates by occupation by checking records of residents of England and Wales. They noticed that the death rate among MS patients in the armed forces was much higher than that of people in other professions over three successive decades. MS has a genetic component but is also influenced by environmental factors, including vitamin D deficiency, smoking and certain viruses. Researchers wanted to learn why so many military people die of MS, and the causes. The team looked at the death records of men aged 20-74 between 1979 and 2010. They compared military people's MS-related mortality rates and death rates from all motor neuron diseases with those of other occupations. They also compared rates across social classes, which in the military presumably means lower-ranking enlisted people, higher-ranking enlisted people, and officers. They discovered that the MS-related mortality rate among military people was significantly higher than in other professions. The death rate from MS was also significantly higher than the rate from all motor neuron diseases in the armed forces. Interestingly, military people did not have a higher MS-related death rate when the team divided those in the study into three social classes or when they compared the armed forces mortality rate to those of similar occupations, such as police and fire services. The consistency of the findings, together with the high statistical significance observed, indicated that the results were not due to simple chance or a problem with the study method, the team said. They speculated that the higher military death rate could stem from the close proximity in which military personnel live and work, which could facilitate the transmission of infections that have the potential to cause MS. The results conflicted with those of a study that analyzed hospital admissions due to MS in a population of former military personnel. It reported no increased incidence of MS-related admissions in former military people, compared with non-military controls. Since such cohort studies are less prone to bias, the Southampton team called for more research on the topic.

Health Questionnaires Can Help to Predict ‘Hard Outcomes’ Like Survival in MS Patients, Study Says

Patient questionnaires can be sensitive to signs of disease progression and worsening in neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis just as they are in other diseases, helping doctors to better predict clinical outcomes in patients, a study reports. Particularly, the study found that MS patients with higher scores on a specific disease questionnaire were nearly six times more likely to die within 10 years than those with lower scores, and that mortality risk also jumped among people whose scores rose on a second taking of same questionnaire. But the researchers cautioned that their study was not a tool for predicting mortality but a way to help patients be more active participants in their care. ā€œOur research shows that by answering a set series of questions, patients can have an important role in predicting long-term prognosis in diseases like MS, and that these types of questionnaire should be used by doctors to get a better idea of the patientā€™s health,ā€ Joel Raffel, studyā€™s first author, from the Imperial College London, United Kingdom, said in a university news release written by Ryan O'Hare. ā€œWe hope that using patient-reported outcomes like these more and more will mean a shift towards empowering patients," he added. "They will be able to provide their own data, so rather than the doctor telling the patient how they are doing, itā€™s the other way around.ā€ Among tools often used in the clinic are patient-reported outcomes; that is, questionnaires for patients that focus on their disease and treatment. But while these questionnaires have many uses, from screening for symptoms or evaluating treatment response to improving communications, they are often under-utilized when people have MS or other neurological diseases, "in part because it is not clear if PROs [patient-reported outcomes] relate to ā€˜hard clinical outcomesā€™ like disability or mortality," the team noted. Researchers wanted to determine whether the Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scaleā€“29 (MSIS-29) ā€” a 29-question survey assessing quality of life and disease impact over the previous two weeks ā€” might serve as a way of predicting a patient's risk of death. The questionnaire was completed by 2,126 people, registered with the MS Society Tissue Bank in the U.K., beginning in 2004. Of these, 872 patients repeated it one year later. By 2014, the researchers reported that 264 of the original group of MS patients (12.4%) had died, and an evaluation revealed that MSIS-29 scores were associated with 10-year mortality risk regardless of age, gender, and disability score at the time the questionnaire was completed. Indeed, patients with high scores on the MSIS-29 questionnaire, indicative of a poor quality of life, were 5.7 times more likely to die within 10 years than those whose scores were lower. The mortality risk rose further among people whose MSIS-29 score worsened between the first and second year of answering the questionnaire. ā€œIdeally, these questionnaires should be administered routinely, once a year in the clinic or online,ā€ Raffel said. ā€œThis could help doctors to understand what issues the patients are facing and could also help to answer big research questions around prognosis and which of the available treatments we have for MS are working.ā€ The team believes that questionnaire responses, together with usual clinical assessment tools like imaging data through MRI scans, could help doctors and patients choose the best course of treatment.