Vascular Dysfunction and Physical Activity in Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

These results indicate that subclinical markers of atherosclerosis are higher in individuals with MS, suggesting a higher risk of cardiovascular disease in this population. However, the higher levels of subclinical atherosclerosis were accounted for by the low PA in persons with MS, suggesting that increasing PA may reduce the increase in cardiovascular disease risk in patients with MS.

Causes of death among persons with multiple sclerosis

“…The declining excess of cardiovascular disease mortality as the UCOD is probably not due to risks improving amongst MS patients, but rather the general population aging and catching up with their cardiovascular risk. The early excess of cardiovascular deaths is consistent with reports of increased incidence of cardiovascular disease in European and Canadian MS populations, (Christiansen et al, 2010;Jadidi et al, 2013;Marrie et al, 2013) and may be due to the cumulative effects of decreased physical activity, overweight (Ranadive et al, 2012) and comorbid diseases such as hypertension. Marrie et al, (2008) This suggests greater effort should be directed to evaluating and reducing cardiovascular risks and potentially other comorbidities, such as diabetes, and obesity, that are major causes of death in the U.S., regardless of MS status.…”

Sedentary Behavior and Blood Pressure in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

“…The data were secondary outcomes from a previous investigation of vascular dysfunction and physical activity in MS. 19 The sample was based on convenience and included 31 patients with MS and 31 persons without MS who were matched on age, sex, height, and weight. The patients with MS were recruited from a laboratory-specific database of participants who were involved in previous research studies of physical activity and who resided within 50 miles of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.…”

New Markers of Early Cardiovascular Risk in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: Oxidized-LDL Correlates with Clinical Staging

“…The precise etiology of the disease is still unknown, although epidemiological data indicate that genetic and environmental factors are important [2]. Despite data are still scarce, studies point to an increased cardiovascular risk (CVR) in patients with MS, at least when compared with individuals of similar age [3][4][5]. MS patients exhibit autonomic dysfunc-tion [6], increased blood pressure and tachycardia [7], ventricular disturbances [8] and impairment of the balance between vasoconstrictors and vasodilators, such as prostaglandins and nitric oxide (NO) [9,10].…”