Familial factors of MS influence susceptibility and clinical course but not disease severity

Researchers investigating the concordance of clinical features of multiple sclerosis (MS) among affected first-degree relatives have shown that familial factors influence susceptibility and clinical course of disease but not the eventual severity of disease.Epidemiologic studies of MS suggest genetic and environmental factors influence susceptibility to MS. However, it is unknown if genetic risk factors influence aspects of the disease's natural history, and if so, it is expected that clinical characteristics of MS should cluster in families with several affected individuals.Hensiek et al. assessed familial concordance for clinical features of MS in a large cohort of families....