Neuromyelitis optica and pregnancy

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of our study was to assess the influence of pregnancy on the course of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and the impact of epidural analgesia and breastfeeding on its activity in the postpartum period.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective study of patients with NMO diagnosed according to Wingerchuk criteria. We noted the number of relapses during the year before pregnancy (BP), during pregnancy (first trimester, second trimester, third trimester), and the year after (Y + 1: first trimester, second trimester [PP2], and third and fourth trimesters postpartum). Epidural analgesia and breastfeeding were recorded. Disability was evaluated with the Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). The annualized relapse rate (ARR) was calculated.

RESULTS

We identified 124 patients (85 female) in the French NOMADMUS cohort on November 1, 2010. A total of 20 women (including 25 pregnancies) were informative with complete files. Comparisons between the ARR of each period and BP (1.0 ± 0.09) only showed an increased tendency for PP2 (0.8 ± 0.06, p = 0.07). Epidural analgesia and breastfeeding had no influence on the course of NMO. The EDSS score increased from 1.5 ± 1.7 BP to 2.6 ± 1.9 Y + 1 (p = 0.027).

CONCLUSION

This study shows that pregnancy influences the activity of NMO, a finding that justifies close medical monitoring. We found no evidence to suggest that either epidural analgesia or breastfeeding has an aggravating effect on NMO.

Association of UV radiation with multiple sclerosis prevalence and sex ratio in France

BACKGROUND

French farmers and their families constitute an informative population to study multiple sclerosis (MS) prevalence and related epidemiology. We carried out an ecological study to evaluate the association of MS prevalence and ultraviolet (UV) radiation, a candidate climatologic risk factor.

METHODS

Mean annual and winter (December-March) UVB irradiation values were systematically compared to MS prevalence rates in corresponding regions of France. UVB data were obtained from the solar radiation database (SoDa) service and prevalence rates from previously published data on 2,667 MS cases registered with the national farmer health insurance system, Mutualité Sociale Agricole (MSA). Pearson correlation was used to examine the relationship of annual and winter UVB values with MS prevalence. Male and female prevalence were also analyzed separately. Linear regression was used to test for interaction of annual and winter UVB with sex in predicting MS prevalence.

RESULTS

There was a strong association between MS prevalence and annual mean UVB irradiation (r = -0.80, p < 0.001) and average winter UVB (r = -0.87, p < 0.001). Both female (r = -0.76, p < 0.001) and male (r = -0.46, p = 0.032) prevalence rates were correlated with annual UVB. Regression modeling showed that the effect of UVB on prevalence rates differed by sex; the interaction effect was significant for both annual UVB (p = 0.003) and winter UVB (p = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that regional UVB radiation is predictive of corresponding MS prevalence rates and supports the hypothesis that sunlight exposure influences MS risk. The evidence also supports a potential role for gender-specific effects of UVB exposure.

High-risk syndrome for neuromyelitis optica: a descriptive and comparative study

Background: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) frequently begins with a monofocal episode of optic neuritis or myelitis. A concept named high-risk syndrome (HRS) for NMO has been proposed for patients with monofocal episodes and NMO-IgG antibodies.

Objective: To describe HRS patients and compare them with NMO patients.

Methods: We identified 30 patients with HRS: 18 with extensive myelitis (HRM) and 12 with optic neuritis (HRON), in a database pooling patients from 25 centres in France. Clinical, laboratory/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data and outcome were analysed and compared with a national cohort of 125 NMO patients extracted from the same database.

Results: Mean follow-up was 4.8 years. Mean age at onset was 42.8 years (range: 12.4–70) with a female:male ratio of 0.9. Asymptomatic lesions were report on visual evoked potentials in 4/8 tested HRM patients and on spinal cord MRI in 2/7 HRON patients. Three patients died, two owing to a cervical lesion. HRS and NMO patients had similar clinical/paraclinical data, except for a predominance of men in the HRS group and a later mean age at onset in the HRM subgroup.

Conclusion: The description of HRS patients is compatible with a monofocal form of NMO. Asymptomatic lesions could be included in a new set of NMO diagnostic criteria.

Long-term follow-up of neuromyelitis optica with a pediatric onset

BACKGROUND

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a rare inflammatory disease. Average age at onset is 35 years. Few data exist on patients with pediatric-onset NMO (p-NMO), with disease onset before age 18 years. We report the clinical and paraclinical features and long-term outcome of patients with p-NMO and compare them with a large adult-onset NMO (a-NMO) cohort.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective, multicenter study of patients with p-NMO in pediatric and adult medical centers. We identified 125 patients with NMO (12 p-NMO; 113 a-NMO) fulfilling the 2006 criteria. Data were collected using hospital files and standardized assessment forms for NMO.

RESULTS

Patients with p-NMO were followed up during a mean 19.3 years. Median age at onset was 14.5 years (4.1-17.9) with a female:male ratio of 3:1. Three patients (25%) fulfilled Paty criteria for multiple sclerosis on first brain MRI, including one patient with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. Median interval between onset and residual Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score 4 was 20.7 years, score 6 was 26 years, and score 7 was 28.7 years. Median interval between onset and residual visual loss ≤1/10 was 1.3 years. Compared with a-NMO, p-NMO showed a longer time to EDSS scores 4 and 6, largely explained by the severity of the first myelitis in the a-NMO group. Time to first treatment was longer in the p-NMO group (13.1 vs 3.4 years).

CONCLUSION

Patients with p-NMO can present a diffuse inflammatory process on first brain MRI and have a longer time to disability than patients with a-NMO.

Multiple sclerosis and epileptic seizures

Background: The association between epilepsy and multiple sclerosis (MS) is not a coincidence.

Objective: Our objective was to compare MS patients with or without history of seizures.

Methods: In a population of 5041 MS patients, we identified 102 (2%) patients with epileptic seizures. In 67 patients (1.3%), epileptic seizure could not be explained by any cause other than MS.

Results: In these 67 patients, the median age at occurrence of the first epileptic seizure was 33 years. Epilepsy was the initial clinical manifestation of MS in seven patients. In total, 62 patients (92.5%) presented only one or a few seizures, and 18 patients (27%) presented at least one episode of status epilepticus, fatal in two. Compared with MS patients without epilepsy, there was no difference in gender, type of MS course and time from onset of MS to the progressive phase. Conversely, the median age at MS onset was earlier (25.0 years vs. 30, p < 0.0001) and there was a trend for a shorter time from MS onset to non-reversible disability.

Conclusions: Our study confirms an increased risk of epileptic seizures in MS patients. It underlines that seizures may be the first observable symptom in MS and the frequency and seriousness of status epilepticus.

Neuromyelitis optica in France: a multicenter study of 125 patients

BACKGROUND

There have been few epidemiologic studies on neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and none used the recent 2006 diagnostic criteria. Here we describe the clinical, laboratory, MRI, and disability course of NMO in a French cohort of 125 patients.

METHODS

We performed an observational, retrospective, multicenter study. Data were collected from September 2007 through August 2008, corresponding to the endpoint of the study. We identified 125 patients fulfilling the 2006 NMO criteria. Selection was made using hospital files and a specific clinical questionnaire for NMO.

RESULTS

Mean age at onset was 34.5 years (range 4-66) with a mean disease duration of 10 +/- 7.8 years at the endpoint. The patients were mainly (87%) Caucasian, with a female:male ratio of 3:1. In 90% of cases, the association of optic neuritis, longitudinal extensive myelitis, and a Paty-negative initial brain MRI was sufficient to fulfill the supportive criteria. Eighty-eight percent of patients were treated with immunosuppressive therapies. Median delay from onset to Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score 4 was 7 years; score 6, 10 years; and score 7, 21 years. The first episode of myelitis was immediately followed by an EDSS score > or = 4 in 37.3% of cases, and a severe residual visual loss was observed in 22% of patients after the first episode of optic neuritis. Multivariate analysis did not reveal any predictors of a poor evolution other than a high number of MRI brain lesions at diagnosis, which were predictive of a residual visual acuity < or = 1/10.

CONCLUSIONS

Our demographic data provide new data on disability in patients with neuromyelitis optica, most of whom were receiving treatment.

Autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: an exploratory cost-effectiveness analysis

Treatment options for secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) are limited. Mitoxantrone is routinely used to stabilize disease progression; however, evolving evidence suggests clinical benefit from intensive treatment with autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Given differences in cost and outcomes, preliminary cost-effectiveness studies are warranted if this approach is to be developed for more widespread application in SPMS. We developed a decision-analytic Markov model to explore the potential cost-effectiveness of autologous HSCT versus mitoxantrone in SPMS, using patient-level data from registry sources. The model evaluates the lifetime costs and health outcomes associated with disability progression and relapse. Sensitivity analyses were undertaken to examine the uncertainty surrounding cost-effectiveness outcomes. In the absence of randomised controlled trial (RCT) evidence, conditions for comparative analysis were not ideal. Under optimistic assumptions, HSCT is estimated to cost below pound3000 per quality adjusted life year gained. However, when a strict 6-month sustained progression rule is adopted, HSCT may be less effective and more expensive than mitoxantrone. The model results were sensitive to reducing procedural costs and HSCT-related mortality. We conclude that HSCT could potentially achieve an acceptable level of cost-effectiveness. However, caution should be exercised as large, high-quality RCTs comparing HSCT versus mitoxantrone are necessary to validate these findings.