Childbirth Slows Progression of MS - Statement

LONDON, November 24 - Following the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry paper
concerning the study investigating the effects of childbirth in MS, the MS
Society has produced the following comment:

Dr Susan Kohlhaas, Research Communications Officer at the MS Society,
said: "It is difficult to form any meaningful conclusions from this research
given the small size of the study and its flaws, but further studies will
hopefully clarify the effects of pregnancy in women with MS."

Notes to Editors:

    - This was a small study and results did not reach statistical
      significance
    - There were significant differences between the groups of women
      the researchers were comparing (including age at diagnosis of MS)
    - They didn't account for the fact that women with more severe
      forms of MS may choose not to get pregnant because they are worried
      about how a post-partum relapse might affect their progression or even
      worry about taking care of a baby during severe relapses.
    - They didn't account for other factors that may influence
      progression (like DMDs taken and for how many years and lifestyle
      factors or genetics)
    - The authors also acknowledge that they may have been working off
      of an incomplete dataset (i.e. they only looked at the numbers of live
      births and didn't account for women who had miscarried or had abortions
      they would have been subject to the same hormonal changes as women who
      had live births and this may have skewed the results).

The MS Society

    - The MS Society (www.mssociety.org.uk) is the UK's
      largest charity supporting everyone whose life is touched by multiple
      sclerosis (MS), providing respite care, an award-winning freephone
      helpline (0808 800 8000), specialist MS nurses and funding more than 80
      vital MS research projects in the UK.
    - MS is the most common disabling neurological condition affecting
      young adults and an estimated 100,000 people in the UK have MS.
    - MS is the result of damage to myelin - the protective sheath
      surrounding nerve fibres of the central nervous system - which
      interferes with messages between the brain and the body. There is no
      cure.
    - MS is characterised by periods of relapse and remission while for
      others it has a progressive pattern. Symptoms include loss of sight and
      mobility, fatigue, depression and cognitive problems.

For media enquiries please contact the MS Society Press Office on +44(0)20-8438-0840, or the out of hours duty press officer on +44(0)7909-851401.