Considered a disease of young adults, multiple sclerosis also affects those over 50. In these patients, the disease advances masked behind a very specific alarm signal, too often confused with the effects of age.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects almost 120,000 French people, with a strong female preponderance (two-thirds of patients are women) and a diagnosis most often made between the ages of 25 and 35. However, scientific reality is evolving: the average age of detection has continued to decline for decades. In fact, nearly 15% of cases are forms that medicine calls “late onset multiple sclerosis”. “MS can in fact be diagnosed a little later, after the age of 50, and in this case, there are as many men as women affected.“, explained Professor Céline Louapre (Sorbonne University, AP-HP), neurologist at Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital and head of the clinical investigation center at the Brain Institute.
The great danger of this late form lies in its ability to advance masked, which leads to delays in diagnosis. In younger patients, the disease usually begins with sudden attacks, such as a sudden drop in vision or intense numbness, which alerts people immediately. After the age of 50, however, it sets in slowly, diffusely and continuously. Because the first signals are discreet and spread over several months, patients, but also doctors, often make the mistake of attributing them to osteoarthritis, rheumatism, blood circulation problems or simply the inevitable effects of aging.
This is where the alarm signal comes in that people born before 1976 (who are therefore 50 years old this year) must watch out for: unusual stiffness or balance problems localized in the legs, we learn in a study published in the Journal of Neurology. Concretely, it is the persistent impression of “dragging your foot” at the end of a walk, of having legs that seem abnormally heavy when you wake up, or of experiencing unexplained stumbles during everyday activities. “For example, the patient may notice a loss of muscle strength while jogging, then over the months, the muscle weakness will intensify more and more during walking.“, illustrates the neurologist. This lack of strength and flexibility in the lower limbs can be indicative of multiple sclerosis.
Of course, feeling heaviness in the legs can be due to several causes and it does not automatically mean that you suffer from this neurological condition. However, when faced with this type of symptom, the right reflex is to speak to your general practitioner who will consider a neurological assessment or an MRI. Detecting the disease as early as possible remains the key to implementing appropriate treatments and sustainably preserving your mobility and your quality of life.
Fortunately, it is a disease whose diagnostic criteria are known and which the medical profession has perfect control over. A recent study also highlights the great stability of the disease, both in terms of its evolution and its epidemiology, since the number of new cases has practically not changed in 10 years. In addition, the last twenty years have been marked by major therapeutic progress, offering particularly encouraging and reassuring prospects for patients.
