Integrating Advanced Therapies and Holistic Management in Multiple Sclerosis Care: Agne Straukiene, MD

WATCH TIME: 4 minutes

"Promoting a brain-healthy and metabolically healthy lifestyle can slow disease progression and enhance the quality of life for [patients] living with multiple sclerosis."

Lifestyle and environmental factors can significantly influence the progression of neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Lack of exercise, poor diet, smoking, excessive alcohol intake, social determinants, medications, poor sleep, and comorbidities can even worsen MS by affecting patients’ brain health and depleting neurological reserves. Beyond disease-modifying therapies, clinicians believe that the approach to MS treatment should entail a "brain-healthy" and "metabolically-healthy" lifestyle to preserve neurological reserves and slow disease progression.¹

In a recent paper published in Frontiers in Neurology, a group of experts proposed recommendations for self-regulated lifestyle modifications to potentially enhance brain health, directly impact disease progression, and improve outcomes in patients with MS.¹ Conducted by senior author Agne Straukiene, MD, and colleagues, the paper highlighted the importance of self-management and adopting a multidisciplinary, collaborative and person-centered care approach that comprises of the healthcare team, the patient’s family and support groups in the community.

In a recent interview with NeurologyLive^®, Straukiene, a consultant neurologist at Torbay and Southern Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, discussed how lifestyle and environmental factors impact the health and disease progression in patients with MS. She also talked about the key recommendations for lifestyle modifications for patients with MS from the recently published paper. Furthermore, she spoke about how advanced therapies can be integrated with holistic management strategies to preserve neurological reserves in patients living with MS.

REFERENCES
1. Giovannoni G, Ford HL, Schmierer K, et al. MS care: integrating advanced therapies and holistic management. Front Neurol. 2024;14:1286122. Published 2024 Jan 30. doi:10.3389/fneur.2023.1286122