Dietary Supplement Use Among Persons with Multiple Sclerosis Seen at a Comprehensive Care Center

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system without a definitive etiology and no current cure. Persons with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) may experience a wide range of impairments affecting vision, cognition, balance, and gait. Studies suggest that up to 70% of pwMS have tried or currently use a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM); this is often integrated with conventional therapies. Dietary supplements (DS) are commonly recommended by clinicians for pwMS as integrative CAM therapies to help manage MS symptoms. Objectives: To evaluate vitamin (VIT), mineral (MIN) and other supplement (OS) use among a sample of pwMS seen at a comprehensive care center (CCC). Methods: Retrospective chart review was carried out on a sample of 170 pwMS seen at a CCC. Inclusion criteria involved having an annual neurology and EDSS exam performed by a physician assistant between October 2011 and June 2013. Data collected included; patient demographics, characteristics on disease history, VIT, MIN, combination vitamin and mineral (CVM), and OS use.  Data was input into a comprehensive Microsoft Access database. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: Participants in this sample (n=126 female; n=44 male) were between 17 and 72 years of age (µ=45.8, SD=11.8), with a disease duration of 0 to 42 years (µ=7.5, SD=9.1), and BMI between 18.9 and 54.3 (µ=28.5, SD=6.8). DS were used by 75.3% of the sample. Rates of VIT use were 60.6%; MIN use, 17.1%; CVM use, 32.9% and OS use, 30.0%. In this sample males were less likely than females to use MIN (RR=0.212, p=0.010). EDSS, disease duration, and BMI did not seem to be associated with supplement use in this sample. Conclusions: It has been suggested that gender, specifically being female, is predictive of CAM use in the MS and general population. Although the analytic sample here did not support this association, it does show that gender had some association with MIN use only. The majority of pwMS in this sample use DS, with VITs being used most frequently. Subsequently, since such a high percentage of pwMS in this sample are using CAM in the form of DS, further research should be done on these therapies to support the perceived benefits they are thought to have.