Depression, constipation & UTI may signal multiple sclerosis risk

People who later develop multiple sclerosis MS are more likely to have conditions like depression constipation and urinary tract infections five years before their diagnosis according to a new studyThe study which is published in the online issue of Neurology also found that sexual problems and bladder infections or cystitis are more likely in people who later develop MSThe conditions were also more likely to occur in people who had other autoimmune diseases lupus and Crohnrsquos disease MS Crohnrsquos disease and lupus are all autoimmune diseases They all affect women more often than men and affect young adultsldquoKnowing that these conditions may be prodromal symptoms or even earlystage symptoms of MS would not necessarily lead to earlier diagnosis of the disease in the general population since these conditions are common and could also be signs of other diseases but this information could be helpful for people who are at a higher risk of developing MS such as people with a family history of the disease or those who show signs of MS on brain scans but do not have any symptoms of the diseaserdquo said Celine Louapre from Sorbonne University in FranceThe study involved 20174 people newly diagnosed with MS They were each matched with three people who did not have MS of the same age and sex for a total of 54790 people Then the people with MS were also compared to 30477 people with Crohnrsquos disease and 7337 people with lupusThen researchers used the medical records database to see whether the participants had any of 113 diseases and symptoms in the five years before and after their diagnosis or before that matching date for the people who did not have an autoimmune diseaseThe people with MS were 22 per cent more likely to have depression five years before their diagnosis than the people without MS They were 50 per cent more likely to have constipation 38 per cent more likely to have urinary tract infections 47 per cent more likely to have sexual problems and 21 per cent more likely to have cystitis or bladder infectionsFor depression 14 per cent of the people with MS had prescriptions for antidepressants five years before diagnosis compared to 10 per cent of the people who did not have MS By five years after diagnosis 37 per cent of people with MS had antidepressant prescriptions compared to 19 per cent of those without MSldquoOf course not everyone who has these symptoms will go on to develop MSrdquo Louapre said ldquoWersquore hoping that eventually these early signs will help us understand the biological mechanisms that occur in the body before the actual symptoms of the disease developrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever