Each Major Risk Factor (Like Genes, Smoking and Obesity) Can Affect Disease Course, Study Finds

Risk factors often associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), such as genetic background, obesity and smoking, contribute independently to the disease’s variability and may be an early influence on progression, a study reported.

The retrospective study, “Multiple sclerosis risk factors contribute to onset heterogeneity,” was published in the journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders.

MS, a neurodegenerative and autoimmune disease, is associated with both genetic and environmental risk factors. Although both have been thoroughly investigated, the “processes contributing to heterogeneity in the clinical manifestation of the disease remain unclear,” the researchers wrote.

Multiple studies show that each patient’s characteristics at disease onset — such as age, number of impaired functional domains (NIFDs; functions ranging from walking and balance, to problems with vision, fatigue, or limb numbness or pain), time to second relapse (TT2R), and early relapse activity (ERA) — can help to predict MS activity and progression. But factors are also likely to play a role in early disease presentation.

To pinpoint the mechanisms involved in disease variability and progression, researchers at Case Western Reserve University investigated the influence of those factors with known links to early disease presentation.

Their study analyzed data on 1,515 people in the Accelerated Cure Project Repository, an open-access resource containing clinical records from a U.S. population of MS patients. Machine learning and mathematical models were used to assess the relevance of each measure for each disease outcome.

Continue Reading