Epidemiology of Multiple Sclerosis in Northeast of Iran during 1985-2016; Conversion of a Rare Disease to a Middle-high Prevalence Disease

Publication date: Available online 7 July 2018Source: Multiple Sclerosis and Related DisordersAuthor(s): Vahid Kazemi Moghaddam, Mohammad Sarmadi, Maryam Tatari, Fereshteh Najafi, Amir Esmaeili, Mostafa HadeiAbstractMany researchers believed that the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with latitude gradient. Due to the increasing prevalence of MS in some areas around the equator such as Iran, this theory has been criticized in recent years. Since the distribution of multiple sclerosis in Iran is not uniform, this study was designed to describe the prevalence and incidence of MS in Northeastern area of Iran.The patients were registered at the MS center of Torbat-Heydarieh County, and all of them lived in this county during the study period. The accepted diagnostic criteria were MRI and McDonald criteria along with medical diagnosis. In addition, population data were obtained from the website of Statistical National Center of Iran.The number of all MS patients were to be 110 cases during the study period. The prevalence of disease at the binging (1985) and end (2016) of the study period was 0.33 and 30.48 patients per 100,000 population, respectively. The incidence of disease in this 35-year period was 1.4 patients per 100,000 population. The average age of patients was 35.1 (15-50) years, and the female to male ratio of patients was 2.8:1.The prevalence of multiple sclerosis was increased in the 35-year period in Torbat-Heydarieh, especially for woman. More epidemio...
Source: Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders - Category: Neurology Source Type: research