Over the past 50 years, excess mortality rates among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) relative to the general population has not changed, with female patients at a greater disadvantage than males, according to a meta-analysis of 12 studies spanning from 1949 to 2012.
Investigators determined all-cause, cause-specific, and gender-specific crude mortality rates to assess standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) in 27,423 MS patients and found the following SMRs:
• Pooled all-cause: 2.8
• All-cause, male: 2.56
• All-cause, female: 3.06
• Cancer: 0.89
• Cardiovascular: 1.29
• Suicide: 2.13
• Respiratory disease and infection: 2.91
Citation: Manouchehrinia A, Tanasescu R, Tench CR, Constantinescu CS. Mortality in multiple sclerosis: meta-analysis of standardised mortality ratios. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2015. doi:10.1136/jnnp-2015-310361.