Having children slows down the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) in women, research has suggested.
MS affects twice as many women as men and many of those are of childbearing age.
Belgian researchers followed 330 women with MS for 18 years: 24% were childless, 52% had given birth before their symptoms developed, 18% had their children after their symptoms developed, and 6% had had children both before and afterwards.
Speed of progression was categorised using the Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), where 10 is death from MS and six indicates an individual needs a cane, a crutch or a brace to walk 100m.
The results published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry showed that long-term disability took longer to develop in women that had children.
Women who had had at least one child at any point were 34% less likely to progress to EDSS six than childless women, those that had their children after their MS began were 39% less likely.
Women who had no children after their MS symptoms started progressed to EDSS six within 13 to 15 years on average whereas women who did have children took an average of 22 to 23 years.
To try and account for any potential age bias, the researchers looked at a smaller group of women, whose symptoms had begun before the age of 30.
They found a similar pattern. The average age at which disease progressed to EDSS 6 among those with no children was 37. But among those who gave birth to their children after their diagnosis, it was 43.
To try and account for any potential age bias, the researchers looked at a smaller group of women, whose symptoms had begun before the age of 30.
They found a similar pattern. The average age at which disease progressed to EDSS six among those with no children was 37, but among those who gave birth to their children after their diagnosis it was 43.
MS is a long term inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, and the authors suggested that sex hormones secreted during pregnancy may alter the body’s immune response and the extent of tissue damage.
