Good evening and welcome, My MSAA Community, to our Ask Me Anything with Dr. Annette Okai! We are excited to have Dr. Okai joining us to answer YOUR questions.
Annette Okai, MD is a neurologist in Dallas, Texas and specializes in multiple sclerosis. She is affiliated with Baylor University Medical Center.
For the next hour, please feel free to ask Dr. Okai your questions about diversity and MS as a reply to this post. Don’t forget to keep refreshing the page to see the latest questions and responses.
Bring on your questions!
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At this time, we don't know the exact reason why. We see the lesions are more prevalent in the spinal cord and optic nerves of this population. These areas tend to produce more disability. Studies to find out the reason for this are needed
for a long time, the theory was that the further away from the equator, the higher the risk of MS. With a newer and refined diagnostic criteria, we are seeing more people diagnosed in all regions. ie. I practice in Dallas and in that area, the diagnosis rate is robust.
I think we have a better diagnostic criteria that is enabling us to diagnose more people early on
Ocrevus and rituximab differ in the way they are made. While they may share a common core molecule, Ocrevus has more human protein, while rituximab has more animal protein
Motor impairment including difficulty walking are more prevalent, due to spinal cord lesions. African Americans have a faster rate to use of cane and wheelchairs, likely due to this
Neurocognitive testing is a great way to assess the overall cognitive function of patients, especially since time does not permit during an office visit.
It assesses memory, thought processing speed, eye hand coordination and gives the doctor an idea of how a patient will function under certain conditions
It is important that the clinical trials represent the population that will use the drug.
historically, most trials the majority of patients were caucasians. With more people of color being diagnosed, Afrcan Americans, Hispanics and Asians, it is important that they are included in the trials. This will also inform us if there are any differences in how they respond to therapies as well
In the past, Double blind studies included placebo because
1. to see how the drug worked compared to no treatment and
2. there weren't a lot of approved therapies
Now that is hardly the case, in most of our recent clinical studies, most patients are on therapy in the double blind studies, it is usually an established/ approved therapy and the drug that is being tested
Recent MS medication approval has been indicated for patients with progressive MS and active secondary progressive MS. In the past, it was mainly the relapsing MS population. Now we have therapies that has been shown effective in a variety of patient population
We think that women are more affected because of the autoimmune process. They are more susceptible to autoimmune diseases. The hormone factor is another reason that is given for higher number of women being diagnosed with MS
We are still learning a lot about MS, but what we know so far, is that taking disease modifying therapy, along with a healthy life style including healthy eating and physical activity goes along with a good quality of life
On behalf of everyone here at MSAA, we thank Dr. Annette Okai for her time and expertise, as well as our My MSAA Community members who have participated and asked questions! We would also like to thank Celgene and Novartis for supporting this AMA through an educational grant. For more information about how MS affects diverse populations, we encourage you to check out our latest podcast, The Many Faces of MS: Exploring Diversity Within Multiple Sclerosis, which can be streamed at: mymsaa.org/msaa-podcasts/03....
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