Patients report worse MS symptoms after menopause: findings from an online cohort.
Mult Scler Relat Disord
; 4(1): 18-24, 2015 Jan.
Article
de En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25787049
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Many women with multiple sclerosis (MS) are postmenopausal, yet the impact of menopause on MS symptoms is unknown.OBJECTIVE:
To investigate patient-reported impact of menopause in a large online research platform, PatientsLikeMe (PLM).METHODS:
A detailed reproductive history survey was deployed to PLM members, and responses were linked to PLM׳s prospectively collected patient-reported severity score (MS Rating Scale, MSRS). The MSRS has previously shown good correlation with physician-derived EDSS scores.RESULTS:
Of the 513 respondents, 55% were postmenopausal; 54% of these reported induced menopause. Median age at natural menopause was 51. Surgical menopause occurred at an earlier age (p<0.001) and was associated with more hormone replacement therapy use (p=0.02) than natural menopause. Postmenopausal status, surgical menopause, and earlier age at menopause were all associated with worse MSRS scores (p≤0.01) in regressions adjusting for age, disease type and duration.CONCLUSION:
Postmenopausal patients in this study reported worse MS disease severity. Further, this study highlights a utility for online research platforms, which allow for rapid generation of hypotheses that then require validation in clinical settings.Mots clés
Texte intégral:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Base de données:
MEDLINE
Sujet principal:
Post-ménopause
/
Sclérose en plaques
Type d'étude:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Etiology_studies
/
Incidence_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limites:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
Langue:
En
Journal:
Mult Scler Relat Disord
Année:
2015
Type de document:
Article