2023-12-27 07:00:20
In France, nearly 120,000 people suffer from multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease whose precise causes are still unknown. And if early symptoms of the disease occurred several years before the diagnosis was made ? This is what suggests a study carried out by researchers at the Brain Institute and recently published in the journal Neurology.
Multiple sclerosis: a disease with still poorly understood origins
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. This pathology affects nearly 120,000 people in France, three-quarters of whom are women. Lesions are created by mistake and scattered throughout the central nervous system. Immune cells thus cause inflammation and the appearance of “demyelination” plaques. This process can lead to chronic pain, muscle spasms, numbness and even vision loss.
To know ! “Demyelination” plaques indicate the destruction of myelin, a protective substance that covers the extensions of the nerves.
To date, the scientific community has still not identified the precise causes of this disease. Hence the interest in trace the genesis of the disease to be able to identify potential risk factors prior to diagnosis.
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A study to decipher the genesis of multiple sclerosis
In this context, a team of French researchers carried out a study aimed at decipher the stages of the onset of the disease before his diagnosis. To carry out their work, the researchers recruited a panel of French and British patients including:
20,174 patients with multiple sclerosis 54,790 patients without multiple sclerosis 30,477 patients with Crohn’s disease 7,337 patients with lupus.
To know ! Crohn’s disease and lupus are two other autoimmune diseases that were added to the study in an effort to monitor results
Using their anonymized medical records, the scientists analyzed the frequency of 113 common symptoms and illnesses over a period of five years before to five years after the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. They were able to see that five symptoms were significantly associated with a subsequent multiple sclerosis diagnosis :
Five years before their diagnosis, the patients were in fact:
22% more likely to suffer from depression than the general population. 50% more likely to suffer from constipation. 38% more likely to have urinary tract infections. 21% more likely to have cystitis or bladder infections. 47% more likely to have sexual problems.
The researchers also observed that during the five years following diagnosis, the overrepresentation of these symptoms persisted and increased.
Therefore, the urinary, gastrointestinal or psychiatric disorders observed and already described in the past by Canadian researchers would constitute the early symptoms of multiple sclerosis several months or even years before the diagnosis is made. As for sexual disorders, until now they had never been identified as warning signs of the disease.
Read also – Multiple sclerosis: an increased risk due to childhood trauma?
Early but not predictive symptoms
However, the early symptoms identified in this study are far from being specific to multiple sclerosis. And for good reason, they are frequently found in the general population as well as in patients with lupus and Crohn’s disease. They cannot therefore constitute predictive symptoms of multiple sclerosis on an individual level.
The results of this study nevertheless reveal the presence of early non-neurological symptoms five years before the onset of multiple sclerosis and its first neurological symptoms. These imbalances could be explained by lesions in the spinal cord responsible for controlling bladder emptying, transit and sexual functions. The appearance of non-neurological warning symptoms of the disease is reminiscent of the genesis of other neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Read also – Multiple sclerosis: stem cell transplantation to delay the worsening of symptoms of the disease
Déborah L., Doctor in Pharmacy
Sources
– Multiple sclerosis: five warning signs identified by a French team. www.lequotidiendumedecin.fr. Accessed December 13, 2023.
– Multiple sclerosis: a new study highlights five warning signs of the disease. institutducerveau-icm.org. Accessed December 13, 2023.
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