Ethnicity and deprivation negatively impact the access to disease-modifying therapy for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: a retrospective, single-centre study.

Background: A growing body of evidence suggests inequitable access to disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis (MS) in publicly funded healthcare systems. This retrospective study examined the impact of ethnicity and deprivation on the access to DMTs.

Methods: All adults diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS between 2010 and 2020 were included. The impact of ethnicity and deprivation on being offered and starting any DMTs and high-efficacy DMTs were measured using binary, multinomial logistic and Cox regression models. These analyses were adjusted for sex, age at diagnosis and year of diagnosis.

Results: 164/1648 people with MS (PwMS) were from non-white ethnicities. 461/1648 who were living in the most deprived areas, were less likely to be offered DMTs, with an OR of 0.66 (95% CI 0.47 to 0.93), less likely to start high-efficacy DMTs with an OR of 0.67 (95% CI 0.48 to 0.93) and more likely to experience a delay in starting high-efficacy DMTs with an HR of 0.76 (95% CI 0.63 to 0.92), when also adjusted for ethnicity. Although the offer of DMTs did not depend on ethnicity, PwMS from non-white ethnicities were more likely to decline DMTs, less likely to start any DMTs and high-efficacy DMTs with ORs of 0.60 (95% CI 0.39 to 0.93) and 0.61 (95% CI 0.38 to 0.98), respectively, and more likely to experience a delay in starting DMTs with an HR of 0.79 (95% CI 0.66 to 0.95), when also adjusted for deprivation.

Conclusions: In a publicly funded healthcare system, the access to DMTs varied depending on ethnicities and levels of deprivation.