Scientists from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver have discovered that anxiety and depression may be early symptoms of multiple sclerosis. The research was published in the journal neurology.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease with a variety of symptoms that make it difficult to diagnose and more easily confused with other conditions. In this disease, the immune system attacks myelin, the protective sheath that covers nerve fibers.
Researchers looked at data from more than 6,800 patients with multiple sclerosis in British Columbia and compared them to about 32,000 people without multiple sclerosis. Scientists have found that patients with multiple sclerosis are almost twice as likely to suffer from mental illness as the general population. Psychiatric visits, medication use, and hospitalizations for psychiatric disorders were also consistently higher in patients with multiple sclerosis. At the same time, as we got closer to the MS diagnosis, the symptoms became more pronounced.
The research could lead to earlier diagnosis of MS and more effective treatment.
“It has long been thought that MS begins clinically only when a person experiences the first demyelination event, such as vision problems. But we now understand that there is a period before these events when the disease manifests itself indirectly,” the authors wrote in a university press release.
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Source: Gazeta
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