Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Linked to Higher Relapse Rates
Thursday January 15, 2009
Pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS) is defined as being diagnosed with MS before the age at 18. A new look at the data on the relapse rate of pediatric MS patients compared to adult MS patients shows that the pediatric MS patients have about 3 times the relapse rate of adults.
The average annual relapse rate for people who developed relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis as adults is 0.4 relapses per year. For people who developed MS before the age of 18, that rate is 1.13 relapses per year (even after they become adults).
Only 11% of people with relapsing-remitted MS are diagnosed as before the age of 18. It is not clear why the relapse rate is higher in pediatric cases. It could be that people who are diagnosed earlier have a more aggressive form of MS than those whose symptoms do not show until later in life.
The study was led by Mark Gorman of Brigham and Women's Hospital and was published in the January 2009 edition of The Annuals of Neurology.
Must Read: MS Relapses
The average annual relapse rate for people who developed relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis as adults is 0.4 relapses per year. For people who developed MS before the age of 18, that rate is 1.13 relapses per year (even after they become adults).
Only 11% of people with relapsing-remitted MS are diagnosed as before the age of 18. It is not clear why the relapse rate is higher in pediatric cases. It could be that people who are diagnosed earlier have a more aggressive form of MS than those whose symptoms do not show until later in life.
The study was led by Mark Gorman of Brigham and Women's Hospital and was published in the January 2009 edition of The Annuals of Neurology.
Must Read: MS Relapses
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