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Progression in familial and nonfamilial MS

Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9713GZ Groningen, The Netherlands

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

Objective

To investigate whether the timing of secondary or primary progression is different betweenpatients with familial and nonfamilial multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods

Information on the family history of 313 patients with MS was taken from our prospectivehospital-based database. We used Kaplan–Meier analyses and Cox regression models to evaluatedifferences between familial and nonfamilial MS in several endpoint measures. We investigated the riskof developing secondary progression in all patients with a relapsing–remitting disease onset, thelength of the relapsing–remitting phase and age at onset of progression in patients with secondaryprogressive MS and the age at disease onset in patients with primary progressive MS (PPMS).

Results

Among the primary progressive patients, those with familial MS had a significantly youngerage at disease onset than patients with nonfamilial MS (mean 33.04 years versus mean 37.73 yearsin nonfamilial MS, P _ 0.02). There were no significant differences between familial and nonfamilialMS patients in any other investigated measure.

Conclusions

Familial MS appears related to the time of disease onset in PPMS. Patients withfamilial PPMS may be an important patient group for future genetic research in MS.

Key Words: familial MS; hereditary MS; multiple sclerosis; progression

First published on January 21, 2008, doi:10.1177/1352458507084269

Multiple Sclerosis 2008;14:300.

A more recent version of this article appeared on April 1, 2008


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