THURSDAY, Jan. 30, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Comorbidities increase the rate of all-cause, but not multiple sclerosis (MS)-specific, hospital admissions among patients with MS, according to a study published online Jan. 21 in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders.
Lina Al-Sakran, from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, and colleagues used administrative data in Saskatchewan, Canada (1996 to 2017) to identify patients' date of the first claim for MS or a demyelinating condition as well as all hospitalizations following the index point.
The researchers found that patients with comorbidities had a higher rate of all-cause hospitalizations versus those without any comorbidity (adjusted risk ratio, 1.72; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.48 to 1.99), but comorbidities did not increase the odds of having an MS-specific hospitalization (adjusted odds ratio, 0.76; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.59 to 0.99). Increased all-cause hospitalizations were specifically associated with diabetes, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, epilepsy, and mood disorders. Longer disease duration was associated with decreases in both all-cause and MS-specific admissions.
"Recognizing and managing comorbidity in the MS population, especially early in the disease course, will likely have the biggest impact on reducing overall hospital admissions," the authors write.
Abstract/Full Text
