Multiple Sclerosis: Blacks Have More Severe Symptoms, Decline Faster Than Whites, New Study Shows

Magnetic resonance images (MRI) of a cohort of 567 consecutive MS patients showed that blacks with MS had more damage to brain tissue and had less normal white and gray matter compared to whites with the disease.

Results of the study were published ahead of print on Jan. 20 at http://www.neurology.org and appear in the Feb. 16 issue of the journal Neurology.

Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, UB associate professor of neurology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is first author on the study. Weinstock-Guttman directs the Baird Multiple Sclerosis Center in Kaleida Health’s Buffalo General Hospital.

“Black patients showed more brain tissue damage and accumulated brain lesions faster than whites, along with rapid clinical deterioration,” confirms Weinstock-Guttman. “The results provide further support that black patients experience a more severe disease, calling for individualized therapeutic interventions for this group of MS patients.”