Juvenile multiple sclerosis: addressing epidemiology, diagnosis, therapeutic, and prognostic updates along with cognitive dysfunction and quality of life.

Juvenile multiple sclerosis (JMS) is a rare but significant subtype of multiple sclerosis (MS) that affects a small percentage of patients under the age of 10 and 3-5% of all MS patients. Despite its rarity, JMS poses unique challenges in terms of diagnosis, treatment, and management, as it can significantly impact a child or adolescent's physical, cognitive, and emotional development. JMS presents with a varying spectrum of signs and symptoms such as coordination difficulties and permanent cognitive dysfunctions and may include atypical clinical features such as seizures, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, and optic neuritis, making diagnostic evaluations challenging.