Physical disability, not whether patients are depressed, when they’re diagnosed with multiple sclerosis significantly influences their future disability progression, according to a recent U.K. registry study.
Although patients who were depressed at the time of their diagnosis were more likely to accumulate significant disability and require an aid to walk short distances earlier than those who were not depressed, depression was not found to be an independent risk factor.
The findings “raise the suspicion that depression is not a causal risk factor for future disease progression, but a reflection of prior disease activity and present severity,” researchers wrote.
