Smoking, dyslipidaemia increase lesion burden in MS
Novel study examines the effects of vascular risk factors on brain pathology
24th February 2020
By Lydia Hales
Individual vascular risk factors appear to affect MS-specific white matter brain lesions differently, with smoking and dyslipidaemia having a direct influence on pathology, researchers say.
A UK team compared brain MRIs of 92 people with MS who had no vascular risk factors with 106 people with MS who had one or more risk factors, including self-reported smoking, arterial hypertension, dyslipidaemia or diabetes mellitus.
The cases and controls were drawn from five centres and were age- and sex-matched, with patients excluded if they had experienced stroke or