For patients with MS, African-American and Hispanic-American race/ethnicity are associ- ated with higher overall disability and higher symptom severity versus White race/ethnicity, according to a study published in Neurology: Clinical Practice. Researchers conducted a retro- spective study of 2,622 patients with MS who self-identified as White, African American, or Hispanic American to examine how symp- tom severity varies with age, sex, and race/ ethnicity. Disability was measured with the Patient-Determined Disability Steps (PDDS) scale, and symptom severity in 12 domains was assessed with the SymptoMScreen (SyMS). Men and women had similar SyMS scores, but men had higher adjusted PDDS scores. Higher fatigue and anxiety scores were reported by women, while men had worse walking and dex- terity scores. In each of the 12 domains, African Americans and Hispanic Americans had higher symptom domain scores than Whites, and they had worse self-rated health (SRH). In a multi- variable model, good SRH was predicted by pain, walking, depression, fatigue, and global dis- ability PDDS, but not by sex or race/ethnicity. “Race/ethnicity was not a predictor of self-rated health, rather self-rated health was mainly pre- dicted by severity of body pain, depression, and fatigue,” the authors wrote. “Our work suggests that improvement in managing these symptoms will be most likely to improve patients’ quality of life and to reduce the disparities in self-rated health among race/ethnic groups.”
