Cardiovascular conditions are as common in those with demyelinating diseases compared to unaffected individuals, with hypertension, being more common among those with multiple sclerosis (MS), a recent study found. Using a case-control study design, researchers compared the burden of self-reported diabetes mellitus type 2, heart disease, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension in cases with MS (n=1,548), neuromyelitis optica (NMO) (m=306), and transverse myelitis (TM) (n=145) to controls (n=677), adjusting demographics, smoking history, obesity, family history of individual cardiovascular conditions, and presence of other cardiovascular conditions. The age of onset for individual cardiovascular conditions were also compared between cases and controls. They found:

• MS cases were 48% more likely to have ever had hypertension than controls.
• The prevalence of other cardiovascular conditions did not differ across cases and controls.
• There were also no differences in the age of cardiovascular disease onset between cases and controls.