Menarche increases relapse risk in pediatric multiple sclerosis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Multiple sclerosis (MS) predominantly affects women with a sex ratio of 3:1 in contrast with a 1:1 sex ratio seen in pre-pubertal onset. Thus, puberty may influence MS risk differentially in males and females. How puberty may be associated with MS clinical features and disease course remains unknown.

Objective

The objective of this paper is to determine the association of menarche with disease course in girls with MS.

Methods

This is a longitudinal retrospective study from the UCSF Regional Pediatric MS Center database. We categorized patients by time of disease onset: pre-menarche, peri-menarche and post-menarche. Poisson regression models were used for within-subject relapse analyses offset by follow-up time.

Results

Seventy-six girls were included

SUBMITTER: Lulu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4636485 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature