Corticosteroid treatment of multiple sclerosis relapses is associated with lower disability worsening over 5 years
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11110%2F25%3A10500297" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11110/25:10500297 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=0GGUItBHmU" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=0GGUItBHmU</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2025-336343" target="_blank" >10.1136/jnnp-2025-336343</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Corticosteroid treatment of multiple sclerosis relapses is associated with lower disability worsening over 5 years
Original language description
Background Corticosteroid treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses is assumed to improve the speed of relapse recovery, without modifying long-term disability risk. We aimed to re-evaluate this assumption in a large cohort of individuals with MS.Methods Individuals with clinically definite MS and >= 3 Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) measurements over >= 12 months were identified within the international neuroimmunology registry MSBase. Individuals were required to have >= 1 relapse, with complete information on relapse treatment, phenotype and severity for all documented relapses. The primary outcome was disability worsening confirmed over 12 months. The association of the cumulative number of steroid-treated and untreated relapses (as a time-varying exposure) with disability worsening was evaluated with Cox proportional hazards.Results In total, 3673 individuals met the inclusion criteria (71% female, mean age 38 years, mean disability EDSS step 2); 5809 relapses (4671 treated/1138 untreated) were captured (annualised relapse rate 0.19). Over the study period (total 30 175 person-years), 32.7% reached the outcome of confirmed disability worsening (median survival time 5.2 years). Non-treated relapses were associated with a higher risk of disability worsening (HR 1.72, 95% CI 1.57 to 1.88) than steroid-treated relapses (HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.43 to 1.57). This association was modified by the efficacy of disease-modifying therapy at the time of relapse.Conclusions Our results suggest that a lack of steroid treatment of MS relapses is associated with a higher risk of future disability worsening. Hence, corticosteroid treatment of MS relapses may impact not only the speed of recovery but also the severity of residual structural damage.
Czech name
—
Czech description
—
Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
—
OECD FORD branch
30103 - Neurosciences (including psychophysiology)
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/LX22NPO5107" target="_blank" >LX22NPO5107: National institute for Neurological Research</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)<br>I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
ISSN
0022-3050
e-ISSN
1468-330X
Volume of the periodical
96
Issue of the periodical within the volume
12
Country of publishing house
GB - UNITED KINGDOM
Number of pages
9
Pages from-to
1185-1193
UT code for WoS article
001539277900001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-105012431984