Comparison of Depression and Anxiety in Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disease and Multiple Sclerosis Patients: Analysis of Two National Datasets
Abigail Sorenson1, Esther Zeng1, Heewon Hwang2, Tammy Smith2, Melissa Wright2, Aditi Sharma2, Trieste Francis2, John Rose2, Ka-Ho Wong2, Stacey Clardy2
1University of California, Berkeley, 2University of Utah
Objective:
Determine difference in frequency of depression and anxiety diagnoses for patients diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disease (NMOSD) compared to patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Background:
NMOSD and MS are both neurological demyelinating diseases. Increased rates of depression and anxiety have been studied in NMOSD and MS and are well documented in progressive illnesses. Historically NMOSD (incidence 1-10/100,000) was considered a rare subvariant of MS (incidence 35.9/100,000) but is now an important differential diagnosis of its own.
Design/Methods:
NMOSD and MS de-identified aggregate datasets focused on United States patients were obtained from TriNetX, a global research network covering 68 US hospital systems which provides access to clinical patient data. To increase specificity, patients who had less than three NMOSD ICD-10-CM (G36.0) or MS ICD-10-CM (G35) code entries were removed.
Results:
Of the 2350 patients with an NMOSD diagnosis, 1806 (76.9%) were female, with a median age of 50.75y [3 - 91]. 586 (24.94%) of NMOSD patients had a depression diagnosis and 527 (22.43%) had an anxiety diagnosis. For the 164969 MS patients, 139168 (84.36%) were female and the median age was 57y [under 1 - 96]. 53524 (32.44%) of MS patients had a depression diagnosis and 46385 (28.12%) had an anxiety diagnosis.
Conclusions:
In comparison to NMOSD, MS patients have a higher rate of depression and anxiety diagnoses. Further research is needed to investigate whether this difference is related to the underlying conditions or insufficient screening and documentation of mental health symptoms in NMOSD patients.