Multicentre collaborative studies
coordinated by the EDMUS Coordinating Center
The EDMUS system facilitates the collaboration of neurologists to recruit patients in sufficient number ("critical mass") to answer questions which hitherto have remained unsolved.
Thus, a number of multicentre collaborative studies have been performed using the EDMUS system and coordinated by the EDMUS Coordinating Center. They will be described below.
For current studies, see the "Current Studies" pages.
The PRIMS study (Pregnancy in Multiple Sclerosis)
The PRIMS study has shown that the overall evolution of the disease
is not modified by the pregnancy and the delivery.
The PRIMS study, aimed at assessing the influence of pregnancy on the course of the disease in terms of exacerbations and residual disability, was carried out under the leadership of Dr. Michael Hutchinson (Dublin, Ireland). It involved 254 European pregnant women affected with multiple sclerosis.
The study has shown that, contrary to classical concepts, pregnancy has a beneficial effect on Multiple Sclerosis, leading to a 2/3 decline in the relapse rate during pregnancy. This effect is offset by a temporary increase in the frequency of relapses during the first trimester post-partum. However, if one considers the pregnancy-year, i.e. the nine months of pregnancy and the three months after delivery, the overall evolution of the disease is not modified by the pregancy and the delivery.
Publications:
Confavreux C, Hutchinson M , Hours MM, Cortinovis-Tourniaire P, Moreau T, and the Pregnancy in Multiple Sclerosis Group.
Rate of pregnancy-related relapse in multiple sclerosis. The New England Journal of Medicine 1998;
339: 285-291.
(Editorial: Whitaker JN. Effects of pregnancy and delivery on disease activity in multiple sclerosis.
The New England Journal of Medicine 1998; 339: 339-340).
Vukusic S, Hutchinson M, Hours M, Moreau T, Cortinovis-Tourniaire P, Adeleine P, Confavreux C, and the Pregnancy in Multiple Sclerosis Group. Pregnancy and multiple sclerosis (the PRIMS study): clinical predictors of post-partum relapse. Brain 2004; 127: 1353-1360.
(Biomed BMH1-CT93-1529, CIPD-CT94-0227 and BMH4-CT96-0064 contracts; L.F.S.E.P.)