New research shows that Multiple Sclerosis may steal as much as six years from patients' lifespans.
In the first large-scale U.S. study of longevity in MS patients, researchers at Boston University collaborated with colleagues from the University of California, San Francisco, the University of Alabama, and Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany. Bayer Pharmaceuticals, maker of the MS drug Betaseron, sponsored the research. The scientists examined insurance claims from more than 30,000 MS patients and compared them to those of more than 89,000 controls, excluding people with Medicare or Medicaid and those without health insurance. Find Out How the Affordable Care Act Affects You » “Subjects were identified on the basis that there was a diagnosis of MS in the system at some point,” explained study author David Kaufman, ScD, Associate Director of the Boston University Slone Epidemiology Center. “In general, we feel that patients with less severe disease were included.” Mortality was calculated using government death records. While death due to MS is relatively rare, the researchers concluded that the MS group experienced a 6 year decrease in life expectancy on average.
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