Risk of Death Rises Among Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Patients With Depression

Multiple sclerosis (MS) might be associated with an increased risk of death among patients who additionally suffer from depression.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) might be associated with an increased risk of death among patients who additionally suffer from depression as per a study published online in the Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study thereby shows that these patients having both conditions may be more than five times likely to die over the next decade than people with just one or neither condition. The risk of developing a vascular disease such as heart attack and stroke also increases among these patients.

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The team analyzed 12,251 people with MS (among them, 21% of the people had depression) and 72,572 without MS (9% having depression). The risk of vascular diseases or death over 10 years was also observed.

Mortality Risk among MS and Depression

It was found that people with both MS and depression had a mortality rate from any cause of 10.3 cases per 100,000 person-years. The mortality rate for people with MS without depression was 10.6, for people who had depression without MS it was 3.6, and for people with neither condition it was 2.5.

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The risk of vascular disease (both MS and depression) was 2.4 cases per 100,000 person-years; 1.2 for people with MS without depression; 1.3 for people with depression without MS; and 0.7 for people with neither condition.

However, information on risk factors such as body mass index (BMI), which could affect the risk of vascular disease and death was not available.

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“These findings underscore the importance of identifying depression in people with MS as well as monitoring for other risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Future studies need to be conducted to look at whether treating depression in people with MS could reduce the risk of vascular disease as well as death over time,” says study author Raffaele Palladino, MD, Ph.D., of Imperial College of London in the United Kingdom.

Source-Medindia