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The association of depression with disease course in multiple sclerosis

Rana K Zabad1, Scott B Patten, Luanne M Metz

  • 1Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Neurology
|January 26, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Depression is less common in primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) than in relapsing forms of the disease. Relapsing multiple sclerosis patients had a 2.64 times higher rate of major depression history.

Area of Science:

  • Neurology
  • Psychiatry
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease.
  • Depression is a common comorbidity in MS.
  • The prevalence of depression may differ between MS subtypes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the lifetime prevalence of major depression in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) versus relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of patient data.
  • Comparison of depression history between PPMS (n=30) and relapsing MS (n=106) cohorts.

Main Results:

  • Three PPMS patients (10%) reported a lifetime history of major depression.
  • Twenty-eight relapsing MS patients (26.4%) reported a lifetime history of major depression.
  • The lifetime morbidity ratio for major depression was 2.64 times higher in the relapsing MS group compared to the PPMS group.

Conclusions:

  • Patients with relapsing forms of MS exhibit a significantly higher lifetime prevalence of major depression compared to those with PPMS.
  • This finding suggests distinct etiological or clinical trajectories for depression in different MS subtypes.

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