Comparison of upper extremity and lower extremity functions in primary and secondary progressed multiple skelerosis patients

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system characterized by demyelination, axonal degeneration, inflammation, astrogliosis. The cortex and deep gray matter can be affected in addition to the white matter. There are three subtypes of the disease. Relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) is the most common subtype with 85%. Other types of the disease are secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) with progression of disability in RRMS patients and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) progressively progressing from the beginning. In our study, upper and lower extremity functions were compared in PPMS and SPMS patients. A total of 65 progressive MS patients with an EDSS (Expanded Disability Status Scale) 4.0-8.5 between 27 PPMS and 38 SPMS were included in the study. The ratio of female to male was 1,6 / 1. As a result, it has been found in this study that from, in group PPMS patients and SPMS patinets having close EDSS scores, the PPMS patients have much better upper extremity fine motor skills and walking ability, though not statistically, but relatively.