Abstract
BACKGROUND: People with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) have an increased risk of infections; risk factors include underlying disease, physical impairment and use of some disease-modifying treatments.
OBJECTIVE: To quantify changes in population-level infection rates among pwMS and compare these to the general population and people with rheumatoid arthritis (pwRA), and identify patient characteristics predictive of infections after MS diagnosis.
METHODS: We conducted a multi-database study using data on 23,226 people with MS diagnosis from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum and GOLD (January 2000-December 2020). PwMS were matched to MS-free controls and pwRA. We calculated infection rates, and estimated incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of predictors for infections ⩽ 5 years after MS diagnosis using Poisson regression.
RESULTS: Among pwMS, overall infection rates remained stable - 1.51-fold (1.49-1.52) that in MS-free controls and 0.87-fold (0.86-0.88) that in pwRA - although urinary tract infection rate per 1000 person-years increased from 98.7 (96.1-101) (2000-2010) to 136 (134-138) (2011-2020). Recent infection before MS diagnosis was most predictive of infections (1 infection: IRR 1.92 (1.86-1.97); ⩾2 infections: IRR 3.00 (2.89-3.10)).
CONCLUSION: The population-level elevated risk of infection among pwMS has remained stable despite the introduction of disease-modifying treatments.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1808-1818 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England) |
Volume | 28 |
Issue number | 11 |
Early online date | 14 May 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s), 2022.
Keywords
- Multiple sclerosis infections
- United Kingdom Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD and Aurum
- multiple outcomes multi-database study
- urinary tract infection