%A Kaufmann,Marco %A Puhan,Milo Alan %A Salmen,Anke %A Kamm,Christian P. %A Manjaly,Zina-Mary %A Calabrese,Pasquale %A Schippling,Sven %A Müller,Stefanie %A Kuhle,Jens %A Pot,Caroline %A Gobbi,Claudio %A Steinemann,Nina %A von Wyl,Viktor %A ,Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Registry (SMSR) %D 2020 %J Frontiers in Neurology %C %F %G English %K Burden,DALY (disability-adjusted life years),Morbidity,Mortality,Epidemiology,Registries %Q %R 10.3389/fneur.2020.00156 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2020-March-06 %9 Original Research %# %! Disease burden of MS %* %< %T 60/30: 60% of the Morbidity-Associated Multiple Sclerosis Disease Burden Comes From the 30% of Persons With Higher Impairments %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2020.00156 %V 11 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 1664-2295 %X Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common chronic, non-traumatic, neurologic disease in young adults. While approximate values of the disease burden of MS are known, individual drivers are unknown.Objective: To estimate the age-, sex-, and disease severity-specific contributions to the disease burden of MS.Methods: We estimated the disease burden of MS using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) following the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD) methodology. The data sources consisted of the Swiss MS Registry, a recent prevalence estimation, and the Swiss mortality registry.Results: The disease burden of MS in Switzerland in 2016 was 6,938 DALYs (95%-interval: 6,018-7,955), which corresponds to 97 DALYs per 100,000 adult inhabitants. Morbidity contributed 59% of the disease burden. While persons in an asymptomatic (EDSS-proxy 0) and mild (EDSS-proxy >0–3.5) disease stage represent 68.4% of the population, they make up 39.8% of the MS-specific morbidity. The remaining 60.2% of the MS-specific morbidity stems from the 31.6% of persons in a moderate (EDSS-proxy 4–6.5) or severe (EDSS-proxy ≥7) disease stage.Conclusions: Morbidity has a larger influence on the disease burden of MS than mortality and is shared in a ratio of 2:3 between persons in an asymptomatic/mild and moderate/severe disease stage in Switzerland. Interventions to reduce severity worsening in combination with tailored, symptomatic treatments are important future paths to lower the disease burden of MS.