Women with MS do not have higher risk of dying from breast cancer

A new study from Canada has found that women with multiple sclerosis (MS) and breast cancer do not have a higher risk of dying than those without the neurological condition.

They did find, though, that ten years after being diagnosed with breast cancer, women who had MS were 28% more likely to die of any cause than those who did not have MS.

Ruth Ann Marrie, MD, PhD, the study’s first author and the director of University of Manitoba’s MS Clinic in Winnipeg, Canada, had found in a previous Canadian population-based study that people with MS had a higher risk of being diagnosed with bladder cancer, but not for developing colorectal or breast cancer.

The study, published in the journal Neurology, was unable to adjust results for ethnicity or race, which can influence breast cancer outcomes. As such, the researchers said more studies are needed to confirm these findings in other countries, to help identify specific MS factors associated with worse outcomes.