Impact of early diagnosis on clinical characteristics of an Italian sample of people with multiple sclerosis recruited online

Background In order to anticipate the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), the diagnostic criteria had been reviewed several times in the last years. Objective We wanted to understand whether earlier diagnoses of MS have impacted on therapeutic management of the disease. Methods We designed a 22-item survey posted on SMsocialnetwork, a webplatform with a medical supervision, dedicated to Italian MS patients. We collected socio-demographic data, disease and treatment-related information of 1000 patients. Results The median age at diagnosis significantly decreased over years. In the last decades the time delay between disease onset and diagnosis reduced, the disease phenotypes at diagnosis shifted from progressive form to relapsing ones and clinically isolated syndrome, the number of early treated patients increased over time. Conclusion We showed, verifying a large sample of patients in a reallife setting, that the improvement of the diagnostic process allowed the anticipation of MS diagnosis over years and had a huge impact in terms of treatment approach.