Obesity is a possible risk factor of multiple sclerosis (MS), but the association between obesity and MS disease activity has not been explored. In a cohort of 86 MS patients, 80% of overweight or obese patients (BMI≥25kg/m(2)) had MRI activity compared to 48% of the normal-weight patients (BMI<25kg/m(2)) (p=0.001) during interferon-beta treatment. NEDA-status (no evidence of disease activity) was defined as a composite that consisted of absence of any relapses, sustained disability-progression and MRI-activity. Among normal-weight patients 26% obtained NEDA-status compared to only 13% of patients with BMI >25 (p=0.05). This may indicate that BMI affects interferon-beta treatment response.
Keywords: Body mass index (BMI); Interferon-beta treatment; MRI disease activity; Multiple sclerosis; No evidence of disease activity; Treatment response.
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