Beginning multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment at the early stage of symptoms may delay the time period in which the disease becomes definitely diagnosed or a relapse. The study found that those who received early treatment intervention were one-third less likely to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis compared to those where treatment was delayed. Early symptoms include numbness and vision or balance problems.
Furthermore those in the early treatment group also experienced 19 percent lower annual relapse rate.
Dr. Ludwig Kappos, researcher, said, “The surprise is that after 11 years, we were still able to detect a difference favoring early treatment, although the delay in starting treatment in the delayed treatment group was only 1.5 years on average. The most astonishing observation was that relapse rates remained lower in most of the years after both groups had equal access to treatment.”
Roughly 85 percent of those who experience early multiple sclerosis symptoms will go on to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
For the study there were 167 patients who received early treatment and 111 who received delayed treatment. Those who received early treatment were 33 percent less likely to be diagnosed with MS and also went longer periods without experiencing a relapse compared to those in the delayed treatment group.
The findings of the study suggest that treatment for multiple sclerosis should begin as soon as symptoms become present in order to delay diagnosis along with relapse.
