Your income, education and marital status before multiple sclerosis could impact its severity

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-09-27 01:00

Australia; International; VIC

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People who have a higher income, education level and aren't separated or divorced could have less severe disability and symptoms if they go on to develop multiple sclerosis, according to international and Australian researchers. The team examined data from about 4,500 multiple sclerosis patients in Sweden, which has universal healthcare, looking at data a year before their diagnosis and five years after diagnosis. The researchers say higher education and income were associated with up to 47% milder disability and reported symptoms. Marital separation was associated with up to 35% higher disease, they say, however there was no difference between outcomes for married and single people.

Media release

From: JAMA

About The Study: In this study of working-age adults with multiple sclerosis (MS), premorbid income, education, and marital status correlated with disability and symptom severity in relapse onset and progressive-onset MS, independent of treatment. These findings suggest that socioeconomic status may reflect both structural and individual determinants of health in MS.

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Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Monash University, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Funder: Dr Glaser reported receiving research funding from Biogen during the conduct of the study. Dr Ciccarelli reported personal fees from Novartis (Data Safety Monitoring Board), Merck (speaker honorarium), Biogen (Advisory Board), and Neurology journal (editor) outside the submitted work. Dr Butzkueven reported grants from Biogen (research grants and speaker fees to institution), Roche (research grants and speaker fees to institution), grants from Novartis (research grants and speaker fees to institution), nonfinancial support from Novartis (travel support), grants from Merck (research grants and speaker fees to institution), nonfinancial support from Merck (travel support), and personal fees from UCB (speaker fees to institution) outside the submitted work. Dr Hillert reported grants from Biogen during the conduct of the study; personal fees and grants from Biogen, BMS-Celgene, Merck, Novartis, and Sanofi-Genzyme, and grants from Janssen and Roche outside the submitted work. Dr McKay reported receiving grants from Swedish Research Council for Health,Working Life andWelfare during the conduct of the study; personal fees from Biogen (speaker honoraria) and Sanofi (speaker honoraria) outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

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