Last week’s hot topic on multiple sclerosis was People with MS, Especially Men, Likely to Have Other Chronic Health Conditions written by Magdalena Kegel.
This article focused on how people newly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) tend to also suffer from other chronic health problems, particularly depression, according to a Canadian study which also emphasizes the importance of investigating whether the safety of MS treatments differs for these patients.
A research team from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, examined the health records of 23,382 individuals with MS (71.9 percent female) at the time of diagnosis, and 116,638 MS-free individuals of the same age and sex. Researchers registered the rates of several chronic conditions, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, fibromyalgia, chronic lung disease, inflammatory bowel disease, epilepsy, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression.
The mean age of the patients included in the study was higher than the average age at MS diagnosis (ages ranged from 20 to over 60, and the mean age at diagnosis was 44). The findings might, therefore, not be representative for the entire MS population.