Prevalence of Comorbidities in Patients with and without Multiple Sclerosis By Age and Sex: A US Retrospective Claims Database Analysis

Background: Comorbid conditions are common in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), and may lead to poorer outcomes. The prevalence of comorbidities by age and sex in US patients with and without MS has not been adequately evaluated. 

Objectives: To compare the prevalence of comorbidities in patients with and without MS within different age groups and by sex. 

Methods: This retrospective, administrative claims database analysis used data from the IMS Health Real World Data Adjudicated Claims – US database from 1/1/2011 to 9/30/2015. Patients with MS were required to have a minimum of 2 claims in which a diagnosis of MS (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code = 340.xx) appeared in any diagnosis field between 1/1/2011 and 9/30/2015. In the first analysis, patients from 5 age cohorts were selected (18–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, and 55–65 years). Patients were also evaluated by sex. The prevalence of common comorbidities in MS was assessed, and prevalence rates were compared between patients with and without MS within the age groupings and by sex. Exact matching was used to match patients with MS 1:1 to the pool of patients without MS within each grouping. Matching factors included age, geographic region, and index-year quarter.

Results: Anxiety, depression, gastrointestinal disease, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and thyroid disease were all statistically significantly more prevalent in patients with MS compared with those without MS across all age groups (p<0.0001 for all). Arthritis, chronic lung disease, and diabetes were statistically significantly more prevalent in patients with MS compared with those without MS across all age groups except the 55–65 year age group (p<0.0001 for all other age groups). Anxiety, arthritis, chronic lung disease, depression, gastrointestinal disease, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and thyroid disease were all statistically significantly more prevalent in patients with MS compared with those without MS in both women and men (p<0.001). The prevalence of diabetes did not statistically significantly differ between patients with and without MS in either women or men (p>0.05).

Conclusions: Rates of several comorbidities differed in patients with MS compared with those without MS within various age groups and by sex. Some of these differences were not present in the oldest age group. The reasons for this finding are not yet understood.