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Age at onset determines the occurrence of the progressive phase of multiple sclerosis

From the Centre d’Investigation Clinique (B.S., S.M.), Service de Pharmacologie (B.S.), Fédération des Maladies du Système Nerveux (A.T., B.F., O.L.-C., C.L.), and Service de Santé Publique (M.R.), AP-HP, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière-UPMC, Paris, France.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Catherine Lubetzki, Fédération des Maladies du Système Nerveux, AP-HP, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, 47 Boulevard de l’Hôpital, Paris, France; e-mail: catherine.lubetzki{at}psl.aphp.fr

We investigated the influence of age at disease onset on timing of the progressive phase in 957 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Age at onset powerfully predicts the probability of developing a primary progressive form of the disease. Moreover, age at onset strongly determines the time to conversion to secondary progression for patients presenting with a relapsing form. This suggests that age at onset strongly influences the neurodegenerative component of MS.

Additional material related to this article can be found on the Neurology Web site. Go to www.neurology.org and scroll down the Table of Contents for the March 6 issue to find the title link for this article.

*These authors contributed equally to this work.

Association de recherche sur la sclérose en plaques (ARSEP) provided support for the development of EDMUS software.

Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Received May 19, 2006. Accepted in final form November 8, 2006.

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