Comorbidity in US patients with multiple sclerosis

• Published in: Patient related outcome measures 2018-01, Vol.9, p.97-102
• Main Authors: Edwards, Natalie C, Munsell, Michael, Menzin, Joseph, Phillips, Amy L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcohol abuse; Alcoholism; Analysis; Arthritis; comorbidities; Comorbidity; Depression (Mood disorder); disease-modifying drugs; Gastrointestinal diseases; Hyperlipidemia; Hypertension; Medical research; Mortality; Multiple sclerosis; Original Research; prevalence; Respiratory tract diseases; Suicides & suicide attempts; Thyroid diseases
• ISSN: 1179-271X; 1179-271X
• DOI: 10.2147/PROM.S148387

To assess the trends in the prevalence of comorbidities in US patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), and the association of demographic characteristics with the presence of comorbidities. A retrospective analysis was conducted from a sample of 5 million patients from the IMS Health Real World Data Adjudicated Claims - US database. Comorbidity in patients with MS was assessed by year (2006-2014), and logistic regression models evaluated the association of age, sex, and region with select comorbidities. The most common comorbidities from 2006 to 2014 were hyperlipidemia and hypertension (25.9%-29.7% of patients within an individual year), followed by gastrointestinal disease (18.4%-21.2% of patients) and thyroid disease (12.9%-17.1% of patients). The proportion with a claim for hyperlipidemia increased from 2006 to 2009, was stable from 2009 to 2011, and then declined from 2011 to 2014. The proportion with a claim for hypertension generally increased from 2006 to 2013, then declined from 2013 to 2014. The proportion with a claim for gastrointestinal disease, thyroid disease, and anxiety generally increased from 2006 to 2014. Claims for comorbidities were statistically significantly more likely among older age groups (