Study looks at family influences in multiple sclerosis

Family members may share onset age of multiple sclerosis, but not disease severity.
Sometimes multiple sclerosis (MS) runs in families. It has not been clear how similar the disease is between family members, however. MS is very variable in its symptoms and progression. Researchers at the University of Cambridge report a study which shows how the course of MS varies within families.

The team looked at data on 2,310 individuals from over 1,000 families in which two or more members had MS. They looked at data on age of onset, disability and disease severity. Age of onset tended to be similar between affected members of the same family. This was so whether parents and children or siblings were being compared. Siblings also tended to have similar patterns of progression. But there was no such relationship between parents and children.

There was also no correlation between the severity of the disease in one family member and its severity in another member. The cause of these observations is unknown – the underlying factors could be genetic or environmental. The findings have important implications for counseling patients with MS – they should not look to their relatives with MS for clues to the outcome of their own disease.

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