Researchers have found that a widely prescribed drug for multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with longer survival for patients.

The study, published today in the journal Brain, found that people with MS who took a beta interferon drug had a 32 per cent lower mortality risk than those that did not take the drug. This was particularly evident among MS patients who took beta interferon for more than three years.

The study, which followed nearly 6,000 people with MS in Canada and France over a period of more than two decades, is the first and largest of its kind to look at mortality associated with beta interferon for the treatment of MS.

«This is a significant study,» said lead author Elaine Kingwell, a research associate and epidemiologist in the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health and the faculty of medicine at UBC, and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. «Although these drugs have been prescribed since the mid-1990s, it takes time before scientists can look at the effect of these treatments on a long-term outcome like survival. We found that patients who were treated with these drugs during routine clinical practice survived longer overall than patients who had not taken beta interferon.»

MS is a disease that affects the central nervous system, in which cells from the immune system attack and damage the nerve cells’ protective sheath. The disease often results in disability and can have a significant impact on quality of life.

The beta interferons were the first drugs to be approved for the treatment of relapsing-onset MS, which is the most common form of the disease. They have been used to treat MS longer than any other disease-modifying therapy.

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Materials provided by University of British Columbia. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.