Neurologists are not able to foresee which newly diagnosed patients will have a benign course, who will have attacks, or who will gradually progress. Nonetheless, studies of large numbers of MS patients suggest that some disease-related factors do have some predictive value. On average, patients who have difficulty walking after their first attack has resolved and patients with a large number of MRI lesions have a less favorable prognosis. Disability resulting from the first five years of the disease tends to predict the level of disability 15-20 years after diagnosis. Thus, it is often said that patients who have little or no disability five years after their diagnosis have the most favorable prognosis.
Life span is shortened only slightly compared to the general population.
There is evidence that the frequency of exacerbations is reduced during the third trimester of pregnancy, but increased during the 3-6 months following birth. Decisions regarding pregnancy are personal and each patient has individual circumstances that may bear on that decision. We encourage you to speak with your neurologist about the relationship between pregnancy and MS disease activity.