New cardiovascular disease diagnosis linked to worse prognosis in MS

SAN DIEGO — A new diagnosis of cardiovascular disease was linked to shortened time to disability progression and worsened outcomes in patients with MS, according to a poster presented at ACTRIMS 2023.

“Cardiovascular comorbidities are extremely prevalent in those with multiple sclerosis compared to the general population,” Taylor R. Wicks, a master’s candidate in neuroscience at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, told Healio. “But we don’t know, specifically, the timing of these cardiovascular comorbidities and when they start to have an effect on multiple sclerosis pathology.”

Wicks and colleagues sought to measure this relationship between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and MS pathology and determine the long-term effects of CVD on disability progression.

They assessed clinical data from 276 individuals with MS over 15 years, for whom disability was determined using the Expanded Disability Severity Scale (confirmed disability progression if 1-point increase from an EDSS score of < 5.5 or 0.5-point increase from 5.5). Researchers analyzed data using mixed-effects models and survival-analysis techniques.

Results showed that 183 patients developed at least one CVD during follow-up, and diagnoses of new CVD were associated with higher longitudinal EDSS scores. Researchers also reported a greater effect on disability in older patients with MS who had at least one newly diagnosed CVD.

In addition, patients diagnosed with a new CVD had shorter time to confirmed disability progression and significant increases in hypertension and hyperlipidemia.

“Those who developed a cardiovascular disease had a worsened confirmed disability progression by almost 2 years, which is a long time for those who are diagnosed with a chronic autoimmune disorder,” Wicks said.