Author Of 1 Presentation
P0444 - Characterization of US-based Hispanic Americans with multiple sclerosis (ID 1185)
Abstract
Background
Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) incidence in Hispanic Americans (HA) is increasing, highlighting the need to understand disease features and clinical course trends among this subpopulation.
Objectives
Objective: To compare demographic features and clinical characteristics of a large population of HA and non-Hispanic Caucasian Americans (NHCA) with MS.
Methods
Methods: MS PATHS is a network of MS Centers in the United States (n=7) and Europe (n=3) contributing standardized data acquired during routine care. US-based MS PATHS participants who self-reported as HA (irrespective of race) or as NHCA, and compared the groups according to demographic (sex, years of education, smoking status, BMI, employment, and insurance status), MS clinical (self-reported disability via Patient Determined Disease Steps [PDDS]), and neuro-performance (via the MS Performance Test (MSPT): walking, manual dexterity, and processing speed) features. Odds ratios and mean differences for PDDS and neuro-performance outcomes were adjusted for age, sex, disease duration and subtype, smoking status, BMI, insurance status, employment status, and years of education. Z-score is compared to a representative healthy population.
Results
Results: Compared to NHCA (n=9003), HA (n=609) had earlier MS symptom onset (mean 28.6y [SD:10.7y] vs 33.6y [11.3y]; p<0.001) and younger age at diagnosis (31.6y [10.9y] vs 36.6y [10.9y]; p<0.001). HA were more likely to have mild disability by the PDDS, compared to NHCA (OR 0.62, 95% CI [-0.89, -0.06], p=0.02). However, HA had worse performance on both manual dexterity times (z score: 0.31 [0.14, 0.47], p<0.001), and cognitive processing speed score (# correct: 0.37 [0.27-0.47], p<0.0001). 25-foot walking speed was not different between the groups (z score:0.09 [-0.23,0.41], p=0.56).
Conclusions
Conclusion: Using standardized data collection in this large MS sample, HA compared to NHCA patients were found to have younger age of onset and diagnosis and higher levels of cognitive and manual dexterity slowing. However, HA were less likely to rate themselves with severe disability on the PDDS. As the groups did not differ in walking speed, this may reflect the scale relatively weighting ambulation over other functions or other language/cultural differences.