Multiple System Atrophy

Prognosis

The interval from symptom onset to combined motor and autonomic dysfunction is predictive of functional deterioration and survival in MSA. In a study of 230 MSA patients, the median time from symptom onset to multi-system involvement was 2 years. Median survival time was 9.0 years (range 2-17 years). Time to assisted walking, wheelchair requirement, bed confinement, and death were proportional to time between symptom onset and multisystem involvement. Patients in whom multisystem involvement occurred within one year of symptom onset proceeded to each of these milestones 2 to 3 times as fast as those for whom multisystem involvement occurred after 3 years or more.