Published: April 26, 2012

Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner

— Being a woman and being young at diagnosis of multiple sclerosis were key hallmarks that allowed for “benign” disease over two decades or more, researchers said here.

Among MS patients who achieved benign status after 10 years, female sex (OR=1.68,P=0.032) was associated with a higher probability of remaining benign, with not more than moderate disability, at 20 years, said Antonio Scalfari, MD, from Imperial College in London, and colleagues at the American Academy of Neurology meeting.

This higher chance for maintaining a benign status was also seen for younger age at disease onset (ages 21 to 30 versus >30, OR=1.77, P=0.02; age ≤20 versus >30, OR=3.36, P<0.001), the authors reported.

Males and those older at disease onset had higher risk to become “no longer benign,” Scalfari’s group concluded.

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