Risk acceptance in multiple sclerosis patients on natalizumab treatment

Bayer Health Care Merck Serono TEVA Objective: We aimed to investigate the ability of natalizumab (NTZ)-treated patients to assume treatment-associated risks and the factors involved in such risk acceptance.Methods: From a total of 185 patients, 114 patients on NTZ as of July 2011 carried out a comprehensive survey. We obtained disease severity perception scores, personality traits' scores, and risk-acceptance scores (RAS) so that higher RAS indicated higher risk acceptance. We recorded JC virus status (JCV+/-), prior immunosuppression, NTZ treatment duration, and clinical characteristics. NTZ patients were split into subgroups (A-E), depending on their individual PML risk. Some 22 MS patients on first-line drugs (DMD) acted as controls.Results: No differences between treatment groups were observed in disease severity perception and personality traits. RAS were higher in NTZ than in DMD patients (p