Survival in multiple sclerosis

Long-term prognosis of multiple sclerosis in Australia

“…The present survival time in Australia is similar to that in the United States [12] and Canada [13]. The increasing survival time is supported by our recent epidemiological study in Newcastle which has shown over a period of 35 years a progressive increase in the duration of the disease from onset to prevalence day [1].…”

“…The mean survival in 216 multiple sclerosis patients in the Grampian region of Scotland was 24.5 years with no significant difference between males and females [11]. Poser et al [12] reported 60% survival after 35 years of illness, the median survival being 35-42 years. In a Canadian study [13] the average survival time for females aged 30 with multiple sclerosis was 43.0 years, although males had a shorter survival of 38.0 years.…”

Features of Multiple Sclerosis in Older Patients in South Wales

“…Many authors have reported that the course of MS in the elderly is associated with higher mortality, [7,11,[19][20][21], worse dis ability and prognosis [9,11,13,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. In this study, older patients were more dis abled, but with the exception of late onset cases, the actual rate of deterioration seems to have been slower in patients who were older on prevalence day.…”

“…13, 15, 18], In this study, the lateonset group had longer remissions, but a sig nificant preponderance of progressive dis ease explainable by a lesion occurring at a single clinical site was seen only in those patients who were over 65 years at the time of interview, regardless of the age of onset of the disease. However other authors have re ported that the age of onset has no adverse effect on the course or prognosis [27][28][29][30][31], or that age-related features of MS are slight [24], or the natural effects of ageing alone, and do not relate to special features of'lateonset MS' [21].…”

Multiple Sclerosis: The Impact of Physical Impairment and Cognitive Dysfunction on Social and Sparetime Activities

“…The disease is further characterized by onset predominantly at an early age and that the MS patient and his family must live with the disease and its sequelae for many yearson average 35 [3], The diagnosis is often dif ficult to establish, although it has become easier in latter years, particulary since the advent of magnetic resonance imaging scans [4], and to some extent MS has been in focus when elucidating interaction between an or ganic disease and its psychosocial conse quences. In earlier investigations focus con centrated on the diagnosis situation.…”