Barriers to clinical follow-up visits in multiple sclerosis: A nationwide register-based study

BACKGROUND: In Denmark, specialized multiple sclerosis (MS) clinics offer free-of-charge treatment to people with MS. However, not all people with MS attend regular clinical follow-up.

OBJECTIVE: To identify people with MS who do not attend Danish MS clinics and identify barriers to treatment.

METHODS: The Danish Multiple Sclerosis Registry was linked to other national Danish registries with follow-up from 2000-2020. We used a time-dependent Cox regression to rank factors associated with low attendance to clinical follow-up visits based on the magnitude of hazard ratios (HRs).

RESULTS: We included 10,175 adults with MS, of which 3862 (38%) had less than one visit annually. The five top-ranked factors that reduced the risk of visits occurring included never having received diseases modifying treatment (HR: 0.48; 95%CI: 0.46-0.49), been diagnosed with MS before 2009 (0.79; 0.78-0.81), association with MS center in an outer region of Denmark (0.82; 0.80-0.84), having progressive MS type (0.88; 0.86-0.91) and not having received symptomatic treatment at diagnosis (0.91; 0.89-0.93).

CONCLUSION: Our results highlight disease-specific and geographic inequalities in the management of people with MS in Denmark. Strategies to prevent this inequality, especially for people with progressive phenotypes and those who need supportive and non-medical treatment and care, should be implemented.