MS Disability Worsened With Psychiatric Comorbidities

Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who also have psychiatric comorbidities, such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder, often experience worsened progression of neurologic disability, according to new study findings.

For their study, the researchers evaluated data on 2312 incident cases of adult-onset MS. Follow-up lasted a mean of 10.5 years. Validated algorithms were used to identify depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder during physician and hospital visits.
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The association between psychiatric comorbidity and disability was examined using multivariable linear regression models, as well as all available Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores.

Approximately 35.8% of patients in this cohort had a mood or anxiety disorder, which was ultimately associated with higher EDSS scores following adjustment for various factors. However, the researchers noted that these findings were statistically significant only in women, but not in men.

“Presence of psychiatric comorbidities, which were common in our incident MS cohort, increased the severity of subsequent neurologic disability,” the researchers concluded. “Optimizing management of psychiatric comorbidities should be explored as a means of potentially mitigating disability progression in MS.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

McKay KA, Tremlett H, Fisk JD, et al. Psychiatric comorbidity is associated with disability progression in multiple sclerosis [Published online March 9, 2018]. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000005302.