Patients face an increased risk of developing chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure and depression, if they have multiple sclerosis, according to a new analysis.
The findings from a Canadian study raise the question as to whether or not there are shared risk factors for MS and other conditions such as depression and high blood pressure.
Dr Ruth Ann Marrie, of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, said should that be the case, researchers could look at ways to reduce the risk of both MS and the other diseases.
“Also, studies have shown that MS may progress faster for people who also have other chronic conditions, so it’s important for people and their doctors to be aware of this and try to manage these conditions,” she said.
Researchers looked at how common it was for people with MS to be diagnosed with several chronic conditions, including high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, chronic lung disease, epilepsy, fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
They compared 23,382 people with MS at the time of their diagnosis and 116,638 people of the same age and sex without the disease and found that those with MS had higher rates of all of the conditions except high cholesterol.
The most common condition was depression, which affected 19% of those with MS, compared to 9% of those without the neurological condition. High rates of mental illness were also identified among MS patients.
The study, which is published in Neurology, found that rates often differed for men and women with MS.
The rate of high blood pressure was 22% among men with MS compared with 15% of men without the condition. In women, it was 14% among those with MS and 12% of those without.
Men with MS also had disproportionately higher levels of diabetes, epilepsy, depression and anxiety than women with MS. Women with MS had disproportionately higher levels of chronic lung disease than men with MS.
Dr Marrie said further study is needed about the differences between men and women and whether the safety of MS treatments differs for those with additional chronic illnesses.
Neurology 10 March 2016 [abstract]
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