Stress and MS: More Complicated Than the Numbers Suggest

Life events that are stressful but not necessarily physically traumatic are associated with increased risk for exacerbations in multiple sclerosis (MS), but there is no absolute evidence of a causal association. Researchers performed a meta-analysis of data from l4 articles, culled from mostly psychiatric journals, that contained the terms stress, trauma, and multiple sclerosis in the titles. Seven studies were case-control, and seven were longitudinal and prospective. Studies of stress associated with only physical trauma were excluded.

For the 14 studies combined, the weighted average effect size for the association between stress and MS exacerbations was d=0.53 (95% confidence interval, 0.40-0.65; P<0.0001). Stress increased the risk for …