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• Posted January 21, 2025

COVID-19 Doesn't Worsen Multiple Sclerosis, Study Says

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) have been concerned that a COVID-19 infection could cause the symptoms of their nerve disease to become even worse.

But a new study should offer some solace -- COVID doesn’t appear to worsen MS, researchers reported Dec. 23, 2024 in the journal Neurology.

“Infections may be associated with more disability among people with MS,” researcher Amber Salter, an associate professor of biostatistics with UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, said in a news release from the American Academy of Neurology. “However, our study found that for COVID-19 infections specifically, this was not true.”

“This is good news for people with MS, that they do not need to worry about long-term worsening of their MS symptoms after a COVID-19 infection,” Salter added.

Earlier studies indicated that COVID infection might cause MS symptoms to worsen, particularly if the symptoms coincide with those associated with long COVID.

For this new study, researchers tracked more than 2,100 MS patients for more than 18 months. About 37% of the patients had been infected with COVID.

Patients reported the severity of their MS symptoms at least six times during the study. These symptoms can include muscle weakness, changes to vision, and numbness.

The patients were also asked about other symptoms like walking ability, hand function, body pain, fatigue, and problems with memory and thinking.

Results showed no significant differences in MS symptoms between people who’d been infected with COVID and those who hadn’t.

COVID infection also didn’t cause greater disability among MS patients, researchers said.

“Our study indicates that COVID-19 infection was not associated with immediate changes in symptom severity or disability, nor did it change the MS symptoms or disability trajectory for more than a year and a half after the infection,” Salter said.

However, researchers noted that this study focused on older MS patients with an average age of 65.

“While our study looked primarily at older people and results may not be the same for younger people, these findings help us better understand how this type of infection can affect people with MS,” Salter concluded.

More information

The Cleveland Clinic has more about multiple sclerosis.

SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology, news release, Dec. 23, 2024