A global perspective on the burden of multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is the most common neuroimmunological disorder. Onset is usually seen in young adults and the disease course is characterised by long survival and increasing disability over time. Owing to medication being expensive, the need for continuous care, and rehabilitation in the late stages of the disease, multiple sclerosis is putting increasing demands on health-care resources. In The Lancet Neurology, the GBD 2016 Multiple Sclerosis Collaborators1 provide a basis for estimating this demand in their analysis of the global, regional, and national burden of multiple sclerosis from 1990 to 2016.