In addition to traditional lectures and symposia, poster sessions are a key component of scientific congresses. For someone not familiar with the scientific world, the term “poster session” might sound a bit strange – but it accurately describes what happens there. Due to the abundance of new data and the large number of participants, not all data can be presented as lectures. Therefore, it is common for visitors to a congress to design their scientific results as posters, hang them up during the congress and present them during the poster session. Those interested in the topic, those with similar interests, or those who want to know more about a project, visit the relevant poster during the poster session and have the opportunity to engage with the author. Because he usually stands next to it during the poster session and answers the questions of the visitors (the picture above shows me in front of my poster last week in London – so you have an idea of what it looks like and how it works).
Poster sessions are thus a core event of every congress. Unfortunately, one is often overwhelmed by the mass of presentations, so that one naturally cannot report completely, but can only choose a few small sub-aspects – and these are of course subjectively colored.
Of interest was a series of posters grouped under the overall title “Gender and MS” – dealing with gender-specific aspects of the disease. A poster from the USA (P320) examined the impact of oral contraceptive use in 179 women with (former) MS and early immunomodulatory therapy. They divided their cohort into women who have never/in the past/currently taken oral contraceptives. The authors report that the annual relapse rate in women who had previously taken oral contraceptives was significantly lower than in women who had never taken “the pill”. Even when comparing people who currently take “the pill” with those who have never used oral contraceptives, a trend towards a lower relapse rate can be seen. The study is helpful in that many patients in consultation ask whether taking “the pill” is a problem. From a neurological point of view with regard to the development of MS, this can be negated in light of these data.
Poster 322 dealt with the long-term effects of pregnancies. The study was conducted by a global consortium of MS researchers using the (global) MSBase database. The aim of the survey was to determine the impact of pregnancies on the EDSS score after 10 years. For this purpose, 1,830 women were identified in the database who had consistently used a specific MS therapy for at least 10 years. In this group, 296 women had 368 pregnancies. Using so-called propensity score matching (a statistical method that allows patients with the same initial conditions to be identified), 145 women with at least one live birth and 145 women who were never pregnant were compared. It turned out that the EDSS value after 10 years in the “pregnancy group” was significantly lower than in the group that was never pregnant. The effect of pregnancy was even greater than that of immunomodulatory therapy. This study is another argument that pregnancies are not dangerous for MS patients, but on the contrary, a protective effect can be demonstrated.
It is known and intensively researched that hormones and hormone fluctuations can have effects on MS. U.S. researchers have now examined the effects of menstruation on MS – ultimately also a very practical question. They investigated whether MS symptoms worsen during menstruation and how women with a negative impact differ from those who are unaffected. Overall, 16.7% of the women surveyed (a total of 443) reported symptom deterioration. The women with complaints were on average younger (25 vs 30 years), used a walking aid more frequently (47% vs 36%), and were younger on average when they started using aids (40 vs 46 years). Interestingly, women who develop complaints related to menstruation appear to have worse outcomes in menopause. Overall, an interesting study suggesting that symptom deterioration during periods may be a risk factor, and women who could particularly benefit from hormone therapy may be identified in this way.
