Social emergency multiple sclerosis, a diagnosis every 3 hours

Multiple sclerosis is a social emergency. 130 thousand people in Italy are affected by this chronic, unpredictable and progressively disabling disease that affects the central nervous system, and which is the main cause of disability among young people. It affects women with a 3 to 1 ratio to men. And there is a diagnosis every 3 hours with 3,600 new cases per year. These are some data presented during ‘1000azionioltrelaSm: co-responsibility, innovation, sustainability towards the 2025 agenda’, a webinar organized at the end of the World Multiple Sclerosis Day and to open the National Week dedicated to the disease, promoted by Aism (Italian Association of Sclerosis multiple) and its Fism Foundation. Multiple sclerosis is diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40 in the prime of working age. In about 3-5% of all people with multiple sclerosis, the onset of the disease occurs under 16 years of age (pediatric cases). Between direct and indirect costs, a total annual cost of the disease is estimated at around 6 billion euros. This is, says Mario Alberto Battaglia, president of the Fism Foundation, the research arm of Aism, of “a disease for which research is in full ferment. Only with research financed by Aism with its Fism Foundation 40 million euros have been invested in the last 5 years. There are 117 active research groups and we have ongoing projects worth 16 million euros. 664 publications on the disease in the last 5 years. And we guaranteed immediate scientific research on Covid and multiple sclerosis, impact on the disease, therapies and vaccinations. An Italian research that is always fundamental to the advancement of knowledge in every field but above all – he concludes – with a concrete relapse for the life and perspectives of people with multiple sclerosis and related diseases. This is why the person with multiple sclerosis is at the center of the choices of research strategy “.