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. 2014 Jun 5;9(6):e99106.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099106. eCollection 2014.

Pregnancy in multiple sclerosis: a questionnaire study

Nadja Borisow  1 , Friedemann Paul  1 , Stephanie Ohlraun  2 , Daniel Pach  3 , Felix Fischer  4 , Jan Dörr  1
Affiliations

Pregnancy in multiple sclerosis: a questionnaire study

Nadja Borisow et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) preferentially affects females at childbearing age. For this reason patients and treating physicians were frequently confronted with questions concerning family planning, pregnancy and birth.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the expertise about pregnancy related topics in multiple sclerosis of neurologists in private practice.

Methods: We developed a survey with 16 multiple choice questions about pregnancy related topics and sent it to neurologists in private practice in Berlin, Germany.

Results: 56 completed questionnaires were sent back. 54% of all questions were answered correctly, 21% of the questions were answered with "I don't know". Correct answers were more often given by physicians who treat more than 400 MS patients per year (p = 0.001). Further positive associations were found for assumed relevance of the topic (p = 0.002) and the degree of counseling (p<0.001).

Conclusion: To provide a comprehensive counseling, MS patients with desire for children should be counseled by physicians with a lot of experience in MS treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: Friedemann Paul is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The other authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Percentage of correct and I don’t know-answers in relation to the number of treated MS patients per quarter: Kruskal-Wallis-test.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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