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People who continue to smoke after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) convert to secondary progressive MS (SPMS) more rapidly than quitters.

Research based on 728 people who smoked when they were diagnosed with MS, shows smokers and quitters converted to SPMS at an average of 48 and 56 years of age respectively. Quitting delayed SPMS by approximately eight years but each year that patients continued to smoke after diagnosis accelerated SPMS by about 4.7 per cent.

The study is the first to establish that smoking after being diagnosed with MS hastens SPMS, say the authors. “Patients with MS should be advised to stop smoking once a diagnosis has been made, not only to lessen risks for co-morbidities, but also to avoid aggravating MS-related disability”, they say.

^{(JAMA Neurol doi:10.1001/ jamaneurol.2015.1788)}