Progression in familial and nonfamilial MS

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

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

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

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