Question: I’ve asked my doctors in the past about PPS, and they indicate that at my age – 65 – it is highly unlikely that I could develop PPS since it has been so many years since I contracted
polio. Do you have any statistics on PPS occurring 60 years after having polio?
Answer: I am unaware of any statistics on the average age when a diagnosis of PPS is made using the 2001 March of Dimes criteria for this diagnosis. Many studies have described the age
at first onset of “symptoms” and generally this has been 25 to 35 years after the (acute) polio. The average interval of years since polio to onset of new symptoms has been reported as longer for the symptom of new weakness in previously unaffected muscles (42.6 years) compared to previously affected muscles (34.4 years). But among polio survivors not hospitalized at the time of
polio onset, the average age of new weakness was 59.3, +4.7 years, and 55.8, +10 years, for muscles previously unaffected or affected respectively (see Halstead et al, in Late Effects of
Poliomyelitis, Symposia Foundation, 1985). Therefore having the onset of PPS symptoms 60 years after polio certainly can occur. Probably most medical experts on PPS believe some new weakness is inevitable among aging polio survivors. What may be unusual is for someone to reach age 80 or more without already recognizing some new weakness AND without another non-polio related health condition that produces new weakness. The three greatest risk factors for developing PPS are severe initial involvement, greatest amount of recovery and chronological age (older) – none of which can be altered. This is why education about EARLY recognition of symptoms and prompt management of them (including rehabilitation interventions) are the best way to slow progression and maintain functional abilities needed for a high quality of life.
Post-Polio Health (Vol. 27, No. 2, Spring 2011)