Parity and secondary progression in multiple sclerosis
- 1Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- 2Department of Neurology, UZ Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Dr M Koch, Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, Postbus 30.001, 9700RB Groningen, The Netherlands; m.w.koch{at}neuro.umcg.nl
- Received 15 August 2008
- Revised 6 October 2008
- Accepted 3 November 2008
Abstract
Background: Pregnancy has a well-documented effect on relapses in multiple sclerosis (MS), whereas little is known about the impact of pregnancy and childbirth on the risk of secondary progression.
Objective: To investigate the association of parity and secondary progression in women with MS.
Methods: The association of the number of births and secondary progression was studied in a hospital-based cohort of 277 women with MS. Data were analysed in a multivariable logistic regression model, with adjustment for possible confounders.
Results: Parity was not independently associated with secondary progression, while the factors disease duration (OR per year increase: 1.05, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.09) and use of immunomodulatory treatments (OR 0.23, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.65) were independently associated with secondary progression.
Conclusion: We found no evidence that parity influences the risk of secondary progression in MS. Further population-based studies on the association of pregnancy and childbirth on the long-term prognosis of MS are needed.
Footnotes
-
Funding: MK is an “MD-clinical research trainee” supported by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (The Hague, The Netherlands) and MS Anders (Amsterdam, The Netherlands).
-
Competing interests: None.
