Calls for parity in clinical trial enrollment among all racial groups, especially Blacks and Hispanics, are being advocated. Considering the aggressive progression of disease in racial and ethnic groups, more drug research is needed in racial groups who may be at higher risk of complications than others.
Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is a progressive, autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system, causing inflammation and other complications over time. The progression of the disease has not been studied extensively in connection with potential sociodemographic and illness-related risk factors. Researchers explored the impact of these risk factors on the progression of NMOSD.
A retrospective cohort study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine analyzed data from 58 patients with NMOSD at disease onset and approximately five years later. The primary measured outcome was the difference in Expanded Disease Severity Scale (EDSS) scores between baseline and follow-up. Data was collected from the Isfahan Hakim MS database, which covers a population of about 5.1 million people.
The mean age at disease onset of study subjects was approximately 31 years old, and 86.2% of study subjects were female. The mean disease duration was 4.67 years. Based on EDSS scores, around 67.2% of subjects were categorized as improving, 22.4% were categorized as unchanged, and 10.3% were categorized as deteriorating. EDSS scores did not statistically differ between groups at baseline.
Overall, a status of deteriorating was linked to a higher progression index and a higher number of attacks. Certain sociodemographic factors, such as age and gender, and other factors, such as relapse rates, symptoms at disease onset, brain plaques, and thoracolumbar plaques, did not significantly differ between groups of improving, unchanged, or deteriorating status. More research is needed in this area. However, study results indicate that treatment regimens should remain highly individualized for NMOSD patients [1].
Source:
[1] Sadeghi-Bahmani, D., Barzegar, M., Mirmosayyeb, O., Vaheb, S., Nehzat, N., Shaygannejad, V., & Brand, S. (2022). Sociodemographic and illness-related indicators to predict the status of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) five years after disease onset. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 11(3), 734. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11030734
