Comorbidities in multiple sclerosis

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, in which multifocal nerve tissue damage occurs. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study analyzed the documentation of 130 patients hospitalized for multiple sclerosis in the Neurological Department of the Hospital in Bełchatów between I.2010 and V.2018. The control group were 177 patients from the Occupational Medicine Outpatient Clinic of the Medicall Health Institute in Piotrków Trybunalski consulted in 2018. RESULTS: Among patients with MS 49.2% were diagnosed with other diseases. The highest rate of comorbidity occurred in the primary progressive form and the lowest in the relapsing-remitting form. The most common diseases among MS patients were: arterial hypertension (23.8%), depression (9.2%), benign prostatic hyperplasia (7.7%), type 2 diabetes (6.9%), spinal discopathy (5.4%), cancer in anamnesis (3.8%)-2% were malignant tumors and 2% nonmalignant tumors, ischemic heart disease (3.1%), hypothyroidism (3.1%), psoriasis (3.1%), bronchial asthma (3.1%), ulcerative colitis (3.1%). Hyperlipidemia, which occurred in 35% of the subjects, was an important problem in patients with MS consisted, in the majority of cases, of elevated total and LDL cholesterol values. CONCLUSIONS: The most frequent comorbidities in MS patients are hyperlipidemia, hypertension, depression, benign prostatic hyperplasia, type 2 diabetes and spinal discopathy. The distribution of disease differed in individual forms of MS, however, this could be due to the age differences among patients. Researching the issue of comorbidity in MS is an important part of the integrated care as it can improve the treatment effectiveness in this group of patients.