Menopause is not the primary driver of multiple sclerosis (MS) clinical progression, despite the overlap of symptoms such as brain fog, urinary dysfunction and vasomotor symptoms, according to a recent study published in JAMA Neurology.

A team of researchers led by Francesca Bridge, MBBS, neurologist at Alfred Health in Melbourne, Australia, and Ph.D. candidate at Monash University, studied 583 premenopausal and 404 postmenopausal women with MS. Disability severity was measured using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) measurements.

Results showed that while chronic disease progression (CPD) was reported in 31.7% of premenopausal women only 7.7% reached secondary progressive MS (SPMS), a later stage of MS.

Conversely, while 56.4% of postmenopausal women reported CPD and 24.3%

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