Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis

The prognosis (the expected future course of the disease) for a person with multiple sclerosis depends on the subtype of the disease; the individual's sex, age, and initial symptoms; and the degree of disability the person experiences. The disease evolves and advances over decades, 30 being the mean years to death since onset.

Female sex, relapsing-remitting subtype, optic neuritis or sensory symptoms at onset, few attacks in the initial years and especially early age at onset, are associated with a better course.

The life expectancy of people with MS is 5 to 10 years lower than that of unaffected people. Almost 40% of people with MS reach the seventh decade of life. Nevertheless, two-thirds of the deaths in people with MS are directly related to the consequences of the disease. Suicide also has a higher prevalence than in the healthy population, while infections and complications are especially hazardous for the more disabled ones.

Although most people lose the ability to walk before death, 90% are still capable of independent walking at 10 years from onset, and 75% at 15 years.