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Diagnose and treat paediatric-onset multiple sclerosis promptly to delay physical worsening and cognitive decline

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Abstract

A CNS demyelination event in a person aged ≤ 18 years could signify the initial clinical presentation of multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic, neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative CNS disorder. The disease course of paediatric-onset MS (POMS) is typically more inflammatorily active than that of adult-onset MS, resulting in more frequent relapses but slower disability accumulation. Such early and frequent neuroinflammatory attacks can lead to impaired brain development and poor cognitive performance. Patients with POMS should be promptly diagnosed and treated with immunomodulators to delay physical worsening and cognitive decline. However, the use of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) is mostly off-label and data are limited.

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    Sheridan M. Hoy

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Correspondence to Sheridan M. Hoy.

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S. M. Hoy is a salaried employee of Adis International Ltd/Springer Nature and declares no relevant conflicts of interest. All authors contributed to the review and are responsible for the article content.

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Hoy, S.M. Diagnose and treat paediatric-onset multiple sclerosis promptly to delay physical worsening and cognitive decline. Drugs Ther Perspect 38, 389–393 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40267-022-00938-2

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