Multiple Sclerosis More Aggressive in Children, but More Disabling in Adults

posted on Nov 23 by Stacy in the Disability News, Health, Multiple Sclerosis category

Researchers at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences have reported that MRI’s of patients who were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in childhood show that pediatric MS is more aggressive and causes more brain lesions than those diagnosed with MS in adulthood. However, data has shown that patients with pediatric onset MS develop disabilities at a slower pace than patients with adult onset MS.

Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, associate professor of neurology, stated that “Patients with pediatric-onset MS have three times as many relapses annually than patients with adult-onset disease, which suggests there is greater disease activity in this population.” Guttman also stated that “the average time to reach the secondary progressive phase of the disease is longer in patients who develop MS in childhood than in adult onset MS.”

Data in this study supports the need for early diagnosis, as well as for therapeutic intervention in pediatric MS patients.

Partial funding for this research was from grants donated by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Children’s Guild foundation of Buffalo.