The following is a summary of “Switching from injectable to other Disease Modifying Therapies may improve sexual dysfunction in people with Multiple Sclerosis,” published in the July 2024 issue of Neurology by Ala et al.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a neurological disorder primarily affecting young adults, frequently leads to sexual dysfunction (SD) in both sexes, impacting desire, arousal, orgasm, and pain in people with MS (pwMS).
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to evaluate changes in sexual function across all domains among females with MS following a switch from first-line injectable medications to alternative treatments after 6 months.
They included females with MS, aged 18 to 50 years, who were switching from interferon beta-1a (both intra-muscular and subcutaneous) and Glatiramer Acetate (GA) to Fingolimod, Dimethyl Fumarate (DMF), or Natalizumab (NTZ) due to convenience, tolerability, and AEs. The “Multiple Sclerosis Intimacy and Sexuality Questionnaire-19” assessed SD changes before and 6 months after the new treatment began. The SPSS V.24 software performed the statistical analysis. Histograms and the Shapiro-Wilk test checked variable normality; because of non-normal distribution in quantitative variables (except age), the Wilcoxon signed-rank test compared scores before and six months after the treatment change. Statistical significance was set at P<0.05.
The results showed 107 female participants (average age: 35.09 ± 5.61), and the mean overall MSISQ-19 scores before and 6 months after medication change were not significantly different (P-value = 0.091). However, the medication change significantly impacted only the tertiary subdomain of MSISQ-19 (P-value = 0.017). Scores for the primary SD and secondary SD subdomains did not change significantly (P-value = 0.761 and 0.479, respectively). Additionally, no significant difference was found in the EDSS before and after the medication change (P-value = 0.461).
Investigators concluded that assessing the impact of MS medication change on SD improvement found significant improvement in MSISQ-19 symptoms after 6 months but no significant changes in other SD domains.
Source: bmcneurol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12883-024-03765-2
