Risks of Diagnostic Delays, Death Higher in MS Patients With Comorbidities

Individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) and comorbidities have a higher risk of diagnostic delays and mortality, according to a recent study.

For their study, the researchers assessed 8947 patients with MS who experienced disease onset between 1980 and 2005. The endpoint of the study was mortality.
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Patients with and without chronic comorbidity were compared via multinomial logistic regression in order to evaluate the time of diagnosis. Cox regression with time-dependent covariates was used to investigate mortality. Patients were followed from clinical onset of MS until either the endpoint or the end of the study, censuring at emigration.

Results indicated that patients with MS with cerebrovascular, cardiovascular, lung, diabetes, and cancer comorbidities had a higher risk of longer diagnostic delays. Furthermore, the researchers also found that patients with MS with psychiatric, cerebrovascular, cardiovascular, lung, diabetes, cancer, or Parkinson disease comorbidities had a higher risk of mortality.

“An increased awareness of both the necessity of neurologic evaluation of new neurologic symptoms in persons with preexisting chronic disease and of optimum treatment of comorbidity in MS is critical,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Thormann A, Soelberg Sørensen P, Koch-Henriksen N, Laursen B, Magyari M. Comorbidity in multiple sclerosis is associated with diagnostic delays and increased mortality [Published online September 20, 2017]. Neurology. http:/​/​dx.​doi.​org/​10.​1212/​WNL.​0000000000004508.