Clinical and Radiologic Disease Activity in Pregnancy and Postpartum in MS.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate radiologic and clinical inflammatory activity in women with MS during pregnancy and postpartum. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected clinical and MRI reports for women who became pregnant while followed at the University of California, San Francisco MS Center between 2005 and 2018. Proportion of brain MRIs with new T2-hyperintense or gadolinium enhancing (Gd+) lesions (primary outcome) and annualized relapse rate (ARR; secondary) were compared before and after pregnancy. RESULTS: We identified 155 pregnancies in 119 women (median Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] 2.0). For the 146 live birth pregnancies, prepregnancy ARR was 0.33; ARR decreased during pregnancy, particularly the third trimester (ARR 0.10, p = 0.017) and increased in the 3 months postpartum (ARR 0.61, p = 0.012); and 16% of women experienced a clinically meaningful increase in EDSS. Among 70 pregnancies with paired brain MRIs available, 53% had new T2 and/or Gd+ lesions postpartum compared with 32% prepregnancy (p < 0.001). Postpartum clinical relapses were associated with Gd+ lesions (p < 0.001). However, even for patients without postpartum relapses, surveillance brain MRIs revealed new T2 and/or Gd+ lesions in 31%. Protective effects of exclusive breastfeeding for ≥3 months (odds ratio = 0.3, 95% confidence interval 0.1-0.9) were observed for relapses. CONCLUSIONS: Building on previous reports of increased relapse rate in the first 3 months postpartum, we report a significant association between inflammation on MRI and this clinical activity. We also detected postpartum radiologic activity in the absence of relapses. Both clinical and radiologic reassessment may inform optimal treatment decision-making during the high-risk early postpartum period.

Comparison of MS inflammatory activity in women using continuous versus cyclic combined oral contraceptives.

BACKGROUND: Many women with multiple sclerosis (MS) report fluctuating symptoms across their menstrual cycle. Oral contraceptives (OCs) alter hormonal levels across the menstrual cycle. While cyclic OCs administer hormones for 21 days, followed by a week of placebo, continuous OCs can administer continuous doses of hormones for up to 3 months. Previous studies have suggested that OC use is associated with lower MS-related inflammation. We hypothesized that due to reduced hormonal fluctuations, women with MS might experience less inflammatory activity (clinical relapses+MRI) on continuous OCs than on cyclic OCs. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. For women with MS aged 18-50 seen at the UCSF Center for MS and Neuroinflammation, we extracted data on OC use from the Electronic Medical Records (EMR). All variables were confirmed using manual clinical chart review. We identified 19 women with relapsing forms of MS on continuous OCs and matched them (2:1 when possible) to women on cyclic OCs for OC formulation, age, MS duration and DMT type. Inflammatory activity in the two groups was then compared using log-rank tests (time to new relapse, new T2-weighted lesion formation, and gadolinium-enhancing lesion formation) and t-tests (annualized relapse rate). We also performed subgroup analyses in women with at least 1 year (N = 28) and 2 years (N = 21) of clinical observation. A power calculation was performed. RESULTS: There was no difference in time to relapse (p = 0.50) between continuous and cycling OC users. However, continuous OC users showed a statistical trend to longer time to T2 lesion formation (p = 0.09) and longer time to contrast-enhancing lesion formation (p = 0.05). In patients with at least 1 year of observation, there was a significant difference in time to T2 lesion formation (p = 0.03) and time to contrast-enhancing lesion formation (p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: In this exploratory study, women on continuous OCs showed a trend towards less inflammatory activity on MRI relative to women on cyclic OCs. This difference was not reflected in relapse rates. We estimate that 342 patients would be required for an adequately powered cohort study to evaluate such an effect. Our findings provide reassurance that for women using continuous OCs to alleviate menstrual fluctuations in symptoms, there is not an increase in MS-related inflammatory activity.