October 5, 2026 | News | Living with MS MS Research

Who has MS in Canada?

A new study has investigated the diversity of the MS population in Canada, which may help to improve more uniform healthcare delivery to underserved groups (Marrie et al. Mult Scler Relat Disord 2026;113:107353). However, the results provide a cautionary tale about population surveys.

The online survey was completed by 857 eligible people in Canada between June 2025 and February 2026. Mean age was 49.8 years and 83.5% were female. About 11.9% identified as non-heterosexual; 2.4% reported a diverse gender identity. Overall, 93.0% identified as White, 4.9% as Indigenous, 2.7% as Asian and 2.1% as Black. About 10% said they were born outside of Canada. Over one-half of respondents reported a household income over $100,000 and 47.4% had a university degree.

While these findings illustrate the broad diversity of people affected by MS, the study sample generally does not reflect the Canadian MS population. As the authors noted, people of colour represent about one-quarter of the Canadian population. While the prevalence of MS is generally lower in people of colour, this would not account for the small proportion (7%) responding to the survey. Indeed, some studies have found that MS is most common among people of African ancestry living in North America (Langer-Gould and colleagues. Neurology 2013;80:1734-1739). Similarly, MS is much less common among Indigenous people so the proportion in this sample would be expected to be substantially less than 1% rather than 4.9%. Larger studies have also reported lower rates of people with non-heterosexual sexual identity (about 5% compared to the 11.9% here) (Khayambashi and colleagues. Mult Scler Relat Disord 2020:37:101440).

So while studies like these can capture some of the diversity of people living with MS, it underrepresents other groups, most notably men, recent immigrants and Black Canadians. What the sampling better reflects are those people who are more likely to respond to an online survey. However, the authors’ larger point is still valid: there is a need for more equitable access to healthcare for the broader population of people in Canada living with MS.

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