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 VACCIMUS study (Vaccine in Multiple Sclerosis)
The VACCIMUS study has shown that vaccinations do not increase the relative risk of relapse
during the two months following the vaccination.
This wide-scale study, aimed at assessing the relationship between any vaccination (hepatitis B as well as other vaccinations) and exacerbations in patients with MS, was carried out in collaboration with the Centre de Statistiques Médicales, Montréal, Canada (Pr. Samy Suissa). It involved 647 patients recorded in the EDMUS network.
The VACCIMUS study has shown that vaccinations (any vaccination, including vaccinations against tetanus, influenza and hepatitis B) do not increase the relative risk of relapse during the two months following the vaccination.
Thus, there is no valid scientific reason to advise against vaccinations in MS patients.
Publications:
Confavreux C, Suissa S, Saddier P, Bourdès V, Vukusic S, and the Vaccines in Multiple Sclerosis Group.
Vaccinations and the risk of relapse in multiple sclerosis. The New England Journal of Medicine
2001; 344:319-326.
(Editorial: Gellin BG. The risk of vaccination: the importance of "negative" studies.
The New England Journal of Medicine 2001; 344: 372-373).
(Pasteur-Mérieux-Sérums & Vaccins and Pasteur-Mérieux-MSD contracts)