Razaz N, Tremlett H, Boyce WT, Guhn M, Joseph K, Marrie RA. Impact of parental multiple sclerosis on early childhood development: A retrospective cohort study. Mult Scler. 2015. pii: 1352458514559298. [Epub ahead of print]
BACKGROUND:Exposure to parental chronic illness is associated with several adverse developmental outcomes.
OBJECTIVES: We examined the association between parental multiple sclerosis (MS) and childhood developmental outcomes.
METHODS: We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study in Manitoba, Canada, using linked databases. The outcome was childhood development at 5 years of age, expressed as vulnerability (absent vs. present) on the Early Development Instrument (EDI).
RESULTS: Children with an MS parent (n=153) were similar to children of unaffected parents (n=876) on all EDI domains.
However, mental health problems was more common among MS parents compared with non-MS parents 49.5% vs. 35.3%. Among MS parents, mental health problems was associated with children's vulnerability on the social competence (OR, 5.73 [95% CI:1.11-29.58]) and emotional maturity (OR, 3.03 [95% CI:1.03-8.94]) domains. The duration of child's exposure to parental MS was associated with vulnerability on the physical health domain (OR, 1.49 [95%CI:1.03-2.15]).
The positive is that having MS does not mean an adverse effect on your kids.