MS-Related Mortality Rates Highest in Non-Hispanic Blacks

MONDAY, July 27, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Multiple sclerosis (MS)-related mortality rates are highest among non-Hispanic Blacks, with an earlier age of death also seen for non-Hispanic Blacks, according to a study published online July 22 in Neurology Open Access.

Lilyana Amezcua, M.D., from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues calculated the age-adjusted and age-specific mortality of MS by race and ethnicity and sex over time across non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, and other races.

The researchers found that the average annual age-adjusted MS mortality rate was highest among non-Hispanic Blacks (1.56 and 0.97 for women and men, respectively), followed by non-Hispanic Whites (1.54 and 0.92 for women and men, respectively), and was lowest among other races (0.18 and 0.11 for women and men, respectively). Regardless of sex, there was an increasing trend seen in age-specific MS mortality among all groups during 2012 to 2023. In both sexes, MS mortality increased with age, peaking at 75 to 84 and 65 to 74 years for non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks, respectively, before declining substantially; the risk increased substantially for women in 2018 to 2019 for ages 45 to 84 years among Hispanic people. An increasing trend in hypertension-related mortality rates was seen across non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks from 2019 to 2023. For cardiac arrest, higher mortality rates between 2019 and 2022 were exclusively seen in non-Hispanic Blacks.

“The reasons behind these health disparities are unclear, but they could be related to differing disease progression, access to health care, lifestyle, and other factors such as co-occurring conditions,” Amezcua said in a statement.

Two authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical entities, including the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, which partially funded the study.

Abstract/Full Text