Extra pounds, along with lifestyle factors like smoking and poor diet, can worsen other deadly conditions common among people with MS, like heart disease and strokes. ![]() Lack of physical activity can lead to weight gain. Managing Other Conditionsĭisability in MS also contributes to early death because it prevents people from exercising, Hendin says. “This is especially a problem in older patients with significant disability,” Weinstock-Guttman says, adding that these people also have a higher risk of falls, which can be deadly, too. That’s important, because disability can lead to immobility, which increases the risk for common infections that can prove fatal, like pneumonia, pressure ulcers, and urinary tract infections. What’s more, DMTs prevent or delay the start of disability related to MS. An important 2012 study found that the first DMT introduced, interferon beta 1b ( Betaseron), reduced MS patients’ risk of dying by 46% to 47%.īecause DMTs slow MS progression, starting them early on can help prevent potentially fatal damage to brain tissue, Weinstock-Guttman says. The life-prolonging benefits of DMTs are well-established. They slow the course of MS, says Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, a professor of neurology at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. What’s shrinking the longevity gap? A major factor has been the rise of new medications known collectively as disease-modifying therapies, or DMTs. While 7 or 8 fewer years may leave you feeling shortchanged, that’s a striking improvement over a generation ago, when a someone with MS could expect to live 14 or 15 fewer years than others, Hendin says. “So for people with primary progressive MS, the period from diagnosis until death may be shorter,” Hendin says. But people with primary progressive MS tend to be older when they learn they have the disease. Overall lifespan is similar in people with both forms of progressive MS. But more than half of these people eventually develop a progressive form, known as secondary progressive MS. They steadily get worse over time.īy contrast, the 85% to 90% of people who get the form called relapsing-remitting MS have symptom-free periods of remission. In primary progressive MS, which is the initial diagnosis in 10% to 15% of people with MS, symptoms don’t improve. “It’s pretty clear that progressive MS is associated with increased mortality,” says neurologist Barry Hendin, MD, chief medical officer for the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. There are several types of MS, and the kind you have may be one thing that determines not only whether you die of MS-related causes, but how long you might live once you’re diagnosed. MS and its complications are the cause of death for about half the people diagnosed with the disease. That 7.5-year difference is similar to what other researchers have found recently. The study found that people with MS lived to be 75.9 years old, on average, compared to 83.4 years old for those without. In a large 2015 study published in the journal Neurology, scientists compared 5,797 people who had MS with 28,807 people who didn’t but who did have things in common like age and location. Over the years, researchers have consistently found that MS, which damages the coating that protects your nerves, can also shorten your lifespan. ![]() And while better treatments appear to deserve much of the credit, there’s also plenty you can do to ensure that you live long and well. While it’s true that the average life expectancy is somewhat shorter for people with MS than for others who don’t have the condition, the gap has shrunk dramatically in recent years. ![]() ![]() If you have multiple sclerosis (MS), a question may lurk in the back of your mind: Will this disease take years off my life? The answer is a mixed bag, experts say.
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