Objective: To describe the clinical course and outcome of multiple sclerosis with progressive onset in Brazilian patients. A total of 238 medical records were reviewed, 26 cases (10.9%) fulfilled Thompson criteria (2000), and 5.80% classified as primary progressive and 5.04% relapsing progressive according to Lublin and Reingold.
Study population: 19 Caucasians and 7 non-Caucasians; male:female ratio 1.2:1, mean age at onset was 34 +/- 7.9 years.
Results: Non-Caucasian patients had earlier onset of disease. The most common manifestations at onset were pyramidal and cerebellar (89% and 34.6%). After 11.3 +/- 6.35 years of disease more than 50% of the patients had involvement of most of their functional systems. No statistically significant differences were observed between the subgroups.
Conclusion: The clinical course and outcome of progressive multiple sclerosis in Brazil, a tropical country with low prevalence, were very similar to those in the multiple sclerosis high prevalence areas.