Pregnancy Does Not Affect Long-Term Disability Accumulation in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

Pregnancy does not influence long-term disability accumulation or disease course in women with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to recent findings published in Multiple Sclerosis Journal.

Researchers aimed to assess how pregnancy in women with MS affects disease course and impacts long-term disability.

Using the national Danish Multiple Sclerosis Registry, researchers identified female patients with relapsing-remitting MS or clinically isolated syndrome.

“Cox models with pregnancy as a time-dependent exposure and propensity score (PS) models were used to evaluate time to reach confirmed Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score of 4 and 6,” wrote Johanna Balslev Andersen, MSc, The Danish Multiple Sclerosis Registry, Department of Neurology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Glostrup, Denmark, and co-researchers.

Of 1265 participants, 425 women became pregnant and gave birth while 840 did not.  

There was a non-significant association of time to reach an EDSS score of 4 (hazard ratio (HR) 0.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.61-1.20 and EDSS 6 (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.40-1.20)when pregnancy was included as a time-dependent exposure. Propensity score models also did not prove an association between pregnancy and time to reach EDSS scores of 4.

“This study concludes that pregnancy does not affect long-term disability accumulation,” concluded Andersen et al.

Andersen JB, Wandall-Holm MF, Andersen PK, Sellebjerg F, Magyari M. Pregnancy in women with MS: Impact on long-term disability accrual in a nationwide Danish Cohort [published online ahead of print, 2021 Nov 18]. Mult Scler. 2021;13524585211057767. doi:10.1177/13524585211057767