Smoking hastens MS decline

People who continued to smoke after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) converted to secondary progressive MS (SPMS) more rapidly than those who quit, according to research from Sweden. The study enrolled 728 people who smoked after being diagnosed with MS. Each year that patients continued to smoke after diagnosis hastened the time at which MS progressed into SPMS by about 4.7%. So, smokers developed SPMS at an average of 48 years of age, compared with 56 years for those who stopped smoking. Quitting delayed SPMS by approximately eight years.

To the authors’ knowledge, the study is the first to establish that smoking after MS diagnosis hastens onset of SPMS. The authors propose ‘patients with MS should be advised to stop smoking once a diagnosis has been made,’ to lessen risks for comorbidities and avoid aggravating MS-related disability.