06/24/2026
At CMSC 2026, PhD candidate Ariel Kidwell‑Chandler presented Beyond BMI: Body Composition Outcomes and Management in Multiple Sclerosis. Her presentation highlighted why BMI alone does not adequately capture the meaningful tissue-level changes experienced by people with MS.
Across studies, individuals with MS tend to have lower lean soft tissue mass, higher fat mass, and reduced bone mineral density compared with non-MS controls. These differences are often missed when BMI is used as the primary indicator. In one cohort, 59% of participants were classified as obese by DXA, while only 29% were classified as obese by BMI, illustrating the limitations of BMI for clinical assessment in MS.
She also discussed clinical phenotypes such as sarcopenia, which affects roughly 20% of people with MS and is associated with mobility loss, functional decline, and reduced physical activity. Current exercise, rehabilitation, and dietary interventions demonstrate modest and inconsistent effects on body composition, underscoring the need for more targeted approaches.
The presentation emphasized several priorities for future research, including longitudinal tracking of body composition, sex‑specific analyses, integration of mechanistic biomarkers, and the development of interventions that directly address muscle loss and changes in adiposity.
