BOSTON – Children with multiple sclerosis (MS) and related conditions are as much as 10 times more likely than the general population to need to be hospitalized for various psychiatric conditions, a study showed.
“The true prevalence of morbidity is almost certainly higher than suggested by our data,” said study lead author Julia Pakpoor, BM BCh, who presented data from her research at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.
While several studies have examined links between MS and mental illness in adults, there’s been little research into the topic in children. The number of children with the disease is far from tiny, however. According to the National MS Society, an estimated 8,000-10,000 children have the condition in the United States.
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The researchers tracked future psychiatric visits by these patients and compared them with a reference cohort of more than 1.1 million children.
The risks of mental conditions in children with MS, compared with the reference cohort, were as follows: psychotic disorders (relative risk [RR] = 10.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.93-27.63; P less than .001), mood disorders (RR = 2.57; 95% CI, 1.03-5.31; P = .022), and intellectual disability (RR = 6.08; 95% CI, 1.25-17.80; P = .004).
The children with other CNS demyelinating diseases also had higher risk levels, compared with the reference cohort: psychotic disorders (RR = 5.77; 95% CI, 2.48-11.41; P less than .001), anxiety, stress-related, and somatoform disorders that cause symptoms like pain (RR = 2.38; 95% CI, 1.39-3.81; P less than .001); intellectual disability (RR = 6.56; 95% CI, 3.66-10.84; P less than .001), and other behavioral disorders (RR = 8.99; 95% CI, 5.13-14.62; P less than .001).
The researchers also reported evidence of a reverse trend. Children with several mental conditions had greater risk than did the reference cohort to go on to develop CNS demyelinating diseases, specifically anxiety, stress-related, and somatoform disorders (RR = 3.15; 95% CI, 1.70-5.39; P less than .001), ADHD (RR = 3.88; 95% CI, 1.75-7.48; P less than .001), autism (RR = 3.80; 95% CI, 2.05-6.50; P less than .001), intellectual disability (RR = 6.33; 95% CI, 2.86-12.21; P less than .001), and other behavioral disorders (RR = 8.30; 95% CI, 5.17-12.75; P less than .001).
“We detected strong associations, and further associations likely exist,” Dr. Pakpoor said.
She acknowledged that the research is limited because it includes information only about patients admitted to a hospital. “There may be many more with psychiatric conditions that are mild,” she said. “We’re probably detecting cases that are more severe.”
In an interview, Flavia M. Nelson, MD, interim chief of the multiple sclerosis division at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, said she often sees psychiatric conditions in her pediatric patients.
Conditions such as depression and anxiety disorders are common, she said, and the pediatric patients often suffer from isolation. “There’s a lot of fear about what this will do to their lives,” she said. Some patients have even refused to go to college because they fear that “they’ll have a disabling attack and everyone will know.”
As for the link between psychiatric illness and MS, Dr. Nelson said the disorders may develop because stress, fear, and anxiety push young people to their limits. “I had one patient who developed tics and rage,” she said. “That was his way of coping with the disease.”
Dr. Nelson suggested doing cognitive testing on young patients and referring them to counseling, especially in light of the fact that teens often put up walls when they don’t know how to express their feelings. Simply asking questions may not be enough to draw them out, she said, so professional counseling can be helpful.
No specific funding was reported. Dr. Pakpoor reported no relevant disclosures. Dr. Nelson has received personal compensation for activities with Bayer, Sanofi-Genzyme, Genentech, Novartis, Teva, and the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers. She has received research support from the National Institutes of Health, the National MS Society, and Novartis.