Multiple sclerosis and pregnancy: Current considerations

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis is the most common neurological disease of young adults that causes major disability. In Romania, it is estimated that this disease has a prevalence of 35-40 per 100,000 inhabitants. It is a disease that begins at the age of 20-40 years and is 2-3 times more common in women than in men. More than half of patients with MS develop the disease in their fertile period of life; therefore, MS patients use contraceptive methods while being under our treatment. Since several therapeutic options have been implemented with good efficiency in the disease stabilization, increasingly more patients begin to wonder about the possibility of having a child and about the possible risks of pregnancy. The evolution during pregnancy and the lactation period has been favorable, with lower relapses and side effects comparable to those in the general population. In addition, babies born to mothers with MS have not had a significantly different mean gestational age or birth weight compared to babies born to healthy mothers. © 2014 Ioan Buraga and Roxana-Elena Popovici.