Depression, constipation, and urinary tract infections may precede MS diagnosis

The study involved 20,174 people newly diagnosed with MS. They were each matched with three people who did not have MS of the same age and sex, for a total of 54,790 people. Then the people with MS were also compared to 30,477 people with Crohn’s disease and 7,337 people with lupus. MS, Crohn’s disease and lupus are all autoimmune diseases. They all affect women more often than men and affect young adults.

Then researchers used the medical records database to see whether the participants had any of 113 diseases and symptoms in the five years before and after their diagnosis, or before that matching date for the people who did not have an autoimmune disease.

The people with MS were 22% more likely to have depression five years before their diagnosis than the people without MS. They were 50% more likely to have constipation, 38% more likely to have urinary tract infections, 47% more likely to have sexual problems, and 21% more likely to have cystitis, or bladder infections.

“Of course, not everyone who has these symptoms will go on to develop MS,” Louapre said. “We’re hoping that eventually these early signs will help us understand the biological mechanisms that occur in the body before the actual symptoms of the disease develop.”

Reference: Depression, constipation, and urinary tract infections may precede MS diagnosis; AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY