80% for CDMS Patients - It's Real!

I've just received an e-mail from the Canadian Press medical reporter. The statistics she reported (38% for CIS, 80% for CDMS) were NOT in the BNAC press release - they came from her interview with Zivadinov. I know that these numbers are still causing some debate and head-scratching, but at least we now know that it isn't the result of calculations done by an over-eager, mathematically-challenged reporter: they came from the horse's mouth.

However, she also had some words of caution:

If I may, I would caution that the findings released are very preliminary and it is difficult to assess them without seeing the actual study. A more in-depth analysis of the data will be released in April at a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, and hopefully the full study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal after that.

And as I said in my article _ and Dr. Zivadinov agreed _ this is not "proof" of progression. It is merely an observational association at this point.

While I would be delighted if there is a connection that could end up in a treatment to help people with MS (including a dear friend of mine), as a longtime medical writer I worry about creating what could be false hope in people with the disease before anything is proven.

Hopefully that will be sooner than later.

Note: CIS stands for Clinically Isolated Syndrome, while CDMS stands for Clinically Diagnosed MS.

Here, again, is the link to the Canadian Press article:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5h9fFcp3BUaMrK7YnuZlWEAgfVkvw