It’s clear that intercourse hormones play an necessary function within the MS illness course, says Vilija Jokubaitis, PhD, an affiliate professor of neuroscience and a researcher at Monash College in Melbourne, Australia.
“Previous to puberty, the identical proportion of females and males have MS. Nonetheless, after the onset of puberty, this shifts to 3 females for each one male. Throughout being pregnant, hormonal shifts see most girls with MS go into remission,” says Dr. Jokubaitis.
Intercourse hormones not solely influence the reproductive system, they’ll additionally bind to cells within the immune system and cells inside the mind, impacting their operate, she explains.
Due to these elements, it’s been suspected that the relative discount within the intercourse hormones estrogen and progesterone after menopause, or the hormonal fluctuations throughout perimenopause might additionally influence the MS illness course, probably impacting illness development, says Jokubaitis.
“There have been plenty of research printed beforehand with conflicting findings, some suggesting a worsening of MS, or a rise in development, whereas others didn’t discover such an affiliation,” she says.
