Multiple sclerosis prevalence on the sharp increase: study

The prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) in New Zealand has sharply risen since 2006, especially in some communities, according to a University of Auckland study.

Lead author Dr Natalia Boven, a postdoctoral fellow from the University’s COMPASS Research Centre, says the study found the MS prevalence rate had climbed to 96.6 per 100,000 people as of June 2022, an increase from 72.4 per 100,000 in 2006. 

“And notably, while European New Zealanders are being diagnosed with MS at a higher rate (132.4 per 100,000), we found MS increased substantially for Māori, Pacific peoples and Asian ethnic groups over the same period," she says.

 Māori rates rose from 15.0 per 100,000 to 33.1 per 100,000 in 2022, the Pacific rate rose to 9.2 per 100,000 and the Asian ethnic group rate increased to 16.0 per 100,000, the study found.

“And of concern is the data shows people living in more deprived areas were less likely to be diagnosed with MS," says Boven. "This pattern was more pronounced for Māori and Pacific peoples, which suggests they may face barriers accessing services to receive a MS diagnosis.”

As a social scientist, she says more research is needed to find out whether this is the case, and what the barriers might be, as an early diagnosis can make all the difference in terms of delaying disease progression and therefore improving quality of life.

Experts agree that multiple sclerosis is a manageable and treatable condition in most cases, especially with early diagnosis.
 

Recently published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, the study was backed by Multiple Sclerosis New Zealand (MSNZ).

National manager Amanda Rose says patients regularly report the biggest barriers to diagnosis are a lack of MS awareness in the community, and critical shortages of specialist services, which can delay diagnosis from a couple of weeks to as long as several years in some instances.  

“Too many New Zealanders face delays in being diagnosed with MS due to limited access to specialist neurologist appointments and MRI scans,” says Rose.

“The longstanding shortage of neurologists in Aotearoa has created long waiting lists for many people with neurological conditions, including MS. We’ve been advocating for over ten years to increase our number of neurologists, with little to no progress.” 

The  study used the Stats NZ Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) and included anonymous data from hospitalisations, disability support, pharmaceutical dispensing of MS treatments and needs assessments.  

To build on the its findings and support targeted advocacy for those with the condition, Multiple Sclerosis New Zealand has now contracted researchers at COMPASS to expand their scope.

They will again be using IDI data to explore the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of people living with MS in Aotearoa; including geographic distribution, education, income, and employment history, access to disability support, allied healthcare, and income support.  

Identifying multiple sclerosis in linked administrative health data in Aotearoa New Zealand by Natalia Boven, Deborah Mason, Barry Milne, Anna Ranta, Andrew Sporle, Lisa Underwood, Julie Winter-Smith, and Vanessa Selak is published in the 28 March edition of the New Zealand Medical Journal.

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