Mortality in Hungarian patients with multiple sclerosis between 1993 and 2013.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the causes of death, the mortality and survival time of MS patients in Hungary.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 1993 and 2013, 740 patients (10,303person-years) were treated at our Outpatients' Clinic, of which 121 died. The causes of death were established from the pathological records or the medical certificates of the cause of death. The standardized mortality ratios (SMR) were calculated. Survival time was assessed with Gehan-Breslow test.

RESULTS: Sixty-four percent of our patients died of MS-related causes. The SMR was 2.52. Primary progressive (PPMS) patients' SMR was higher (4.10) than initially relapsing patients' (RR/SPMS) was. There was no difference between the genders (2.46 for men vs 2.57 for women). The median survival time of woman was 3years longer (p<0.001). RR/SPMS patients' median survival (35years) was more than twice as long as PPMS patients' (14years).

DISCUSSION: The frequency of the MS-related cause of death, SMR and the median survival times were mostly similar to previous results from Scandinavia and North-America, despite the very different socio-economic backgrounds of these areas which shows that the survival risk can solely be attributed to MS itself. These are the first data on the topic from Central-Eastern-Europe.