This interested me because hypertension is a problem of mine. This study connects it to MS because of intrusions into the blood brain barrier.
“People with multiple sclerosis are 48 percent more likely to have high blood pressure compared to the general population — and to people with other demyelinating diseases, a new study reports. Its researchers also emphasize that hypertension is already linked to poorer outcomes in MS patients.
The study, “,” was published in the journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders.
Like all demyelinating diseases, MS is marked by damage to the protective cover – called myelin – that surrounds nerve fibers in the brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord.
Two other diseases, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), and transverse myelitis (TM), are also demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system. But the three have widely different clinical characteristics, and comorbidities — while common in MS patients — have not been studied extensively in NMOSD and TM.
Researchers with Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, investigated the prevalence of cardiovascular conditions like hypertension in a group of MS, NMOSD, and TM patients in the U.S. Cardiovascular conditions, even those that develop in people with other diseases (as a comorbidity), are generally considered modifiable through diet and exercise. But few large-scale studies have looked into their prevalence or burden in people with demyelinating diseases.
Those that have suggest that cardiovascular conditions are either as prevalent or more prevalent in people with MS and NMOSD than healthy people.
Using a case-control study (people enrolled in the Accelerated Cure Project and treated at special clinics), the research team compared the burden of several cardiovascular-associated diseases — type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hyperlipidemia (high levels of fat in blood, or high cholesterol), and hypertension (high blood pressure) — in 1,548 MS patients, 306 NMOSD patients, and 145 people with TM, and then compared findings with those of 677 controls without a demyelinating disease.
“In MS cases, we observed an elevated burden of hypertension compared to the controls,” the researchers wrote, noting a number of earlier studies also “demonstrated adverse associations between cardiovascular conditions and MS outcomes.”
Interestingly, the prevalence of other cardiovascular conditions — including high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease — did not differ across patient groups and controls. Likewise, no differences were found in age of cardiovascular disease onset among patients and controls.
Because of the link between cardiovascular ills and MS disease severity, they also recommend further studies to better “characterize the causal mechanisms underlying the associations between cardiovascular conditions and adverse MS outcomes; and to examine if similar associations exist in NMOSD and TM.”
“People with multiple sclerosis are 48 percent more likely to have high blood pressure compared to the general population — and to people with other demyelinating diseases, a new study reports. Its researchers also emphasize that hypertension is already linked to poorer outcomes in MS patients.
The study, “,” was published in the journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders.
Like all demyelinating diseases, MS is marked by damage to the protective cover – called myelin – that surrounds nerve fibers in the brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord.
Two other diseases, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), and transverse myelitis (TM), are also demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system. But the three have widely different clinical characteristics, and comorbidities — while common in MS patients — have not been studied extensively in NMOSD and TM.
Researchers with Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, investigated the prevalence of cardiovascular conditions like hypertension in a group of MS, NMOSD, and TM patients in the U.S. Cardiovascular conditions, even those that develop in people with other diseases (as a comorbidity), are generally considered modifiable through diet and exercise. But few large-scale studies have looked into their prevalence or burden in people with demyelinating diseases.
Those that have suggest that cardiovascular conditions are either as prevalent or more prevalent in people with MS and NMOSD than healthy people.
Using a case-control study (people enrolled in the Accelerated Cure Project and treated at special clinics), the research team compared the burden of several cardiovascular-associated diseases — type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hyperlipidemia (high levels of fat in blood, or high cholesterol), and hypertension (high blood pressure) — in 1,548 MS patients, 306 NMOSD patients, and 145 people with TM, and then compared findings with those of 677 controls without a demyelinating disease.
“In MS cases, we observed an elevated burden of hypertension compared to the controls,” the researchers wrote, noting a number of earlier studies also “demonstrated adverse associations between cardiovascular conditions and MS outcomes.”
Interestingly, the prevalence of other cardiovascular conditions — including high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease — did not differ across patient groups and controls. Likewise, no differences were found in age of cardiovascular disease onset among patients and controls.
Because of the link between cardiovascular ills and MS disease severity, they also recommend further studies to better “characterize the causal mechanisms underlying the associations between cardiovascular conditions and adverse MS outcomes; and to examine if similar associations exist in NMOSD and TM.”
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