Multiple sclerosis (MS) survival is influenced not only by the underlying autoimmune process, but also by patient comorbidities and lifestyle factors, according to a retrospective analysis of 1,713 MS patients in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink.
Investigators followed patients to identify deaths and causes and found infections and depression are common comorbidities at 80% and 46%, respectively. In addition, the adjusted hazard ratios for all-cause mortality were:
•current smoking: 2.0
•alcohol abuse: 7.6
•pneumonia and influenza: 2.7
•urinary tract infections: 4.1
•heart disease, 2.2
•cancer: 4.9
Citation: Jick SS, Li L, Falcone GJ, Vassilev ZP, Wallander MA. Epidemiology of multiple sclerosis: results from a large observational study in the UK. J Neurol. 2015. [Epub ahead of print]