Dawn, a carer from Elite Care wears PPE (personal protective equipment) as she tends to her client Tina during a home visit in Scunthorpe, northern England on May 8, 2020. Tina has multiple complex needs as she suffers with Multiple Sclerosis.
The latest research has revealed a unique viewpoint on multiple sclerosis (MS), showing that psychological disorders, including anxiety and depression, may appear before common symptoms of the disease that affect the brain and spinal cord.
According to Professor Helen Tremlett, a senior author of the study and a neurology expert at the University of British Columbia's Djavad Mowafaghian Center for Brain Health, MS is typically believed to manifest clinically when a person experiences their first demyelinating event, which frequently comes with symptoms like vision problems. The recent MS study findings do, however, indicate that the disease may manifest subtly in the meantime.
The Challenge of Detecting MS
Multiple sclerosis can be difficult to diagnose and may be mistaken for other medical disorders due to its various symptoms. MS disrupts brain-body communication because the immune system assaults the nerve fibers' myelin protection.
In other disorders like Parkinson's, the idea of prodromal periods of early symptoms coming before the more obvious ones-is well recognized. For instance, Parkinson's patients may have symptoms like constipation for years before exhibiting more pronounced motor deficits.
Early MS diagnosis and treatment can "slow disease progression and improve quality of life for people," according to Tremlett, according to US News & World Report.
MS Patients Reported Mental Health Issues
The researchers reviewed the health records of 6,800 MS patients in British Columbia to evaluate the prevalence of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia five years before MS symptoms appeared. The study revealed that 28% of MS patients experienced mental health concerns, compared to 15% of 32,000 healthy adults.
MS patients reported more doctor and psychiatrist visits, mental health medications, and hospitalizations than non-MS patients. In the five years before the beginning of typical MS symptoms, the gap in mental disorders became much wider.
The study's primary author, Dr. Anibal Chertcoff, noted that while the research does not suggest that these mental problems may be used in isolation to forecast the development of MS, it is possible that, when coupled with other variables, they could constitute a piece of the larger MS prodrome jigsaw, per Tyler Morning Telegraph.
Tremlett's lab has previously recognized several probable elements of the MS prodrome, such as tiredness, sleep issues, IBS, anemia, and pain.
The study was published in Neurology on September 25 and funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the MS Society of Canada, and Michael Smith Health Research BC.
According to a study published in the US National Library of Medicine, approximately 2.8 million individuals worldwide have MS, or 35.9 instances per 100,000. MS prevalence has grown globally since 2013, however, estimates vary. The 75 reporting nations had 2.1 cases per 100,000 persons per year with a median diagnostic age of 32. Note that MS affects twice as many women as males.
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