Prevalence of Multiple sclerosis and its clinical and demographic characteristics in Kurdish populations in western Iran (2020)

Abstract

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a costly burdensome nervous system disorder leading several disabilities in young and middle-aged people. Knowing MS clinical, epidemiologic and demographic characteristics may help to estimate and predict the required health services and medication facilities for the affected people. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of MS and its demographic characteristic in about 2 million Kurdish populations in western Iran in 2020.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020 on MS patients with Kurdish Ethnicity living in Kermanshah /western Iran which is a Mountainous area in. MS patients were registered and recruited to this study from several centers. The settings have been approved by the nationwide MS registry of Iran (NMSRI). Using two questioners, a questionnaire included sex, age, the age in which the MS symptoms onset, the age of diagnosis, family history of MS, and type of MS, and second one was the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) checklist. The demographic information of Kermanshah province was adopted from the Statistical Center of Iran. In addition to descriptive statistics, U-Mann-Whitney and Chi-square tests were also used.

Results: A total of 1557 MS patients with a mean age (±SD) of 38.66 ± 9.9 years were recruited in this study. Of them, 1216 (78.1%) were female. The majority of patients, 300 patients (19.3%), were in the age range 35-39 years, and the highest prevalence (184.82 per 100,000 populations) was observed in the age range 40-44 years. The prevalence of MS in Kermanshah province is estimated 79.50 per 100,000 people, 125.71 per 100,000 in female and 34.41 per 100,000 in male. This prevalence was higher in female (female to male was 3.65 to 1). The EDSS score was significantly higher in male than in female (3.06 ± 2.2 in male versus 2.42 ± 1.8 in female) (p = 0.001). The type of MS was significantly different between male and female, so that SPMS and PPMS were more common in male (31(10.3%), 22(7.3%)) than female (81(7.5%), 39(3.6%)) (p = 0.012). A positive family history of MS was found in 12.6% of patients.

Conclusion: Given the information about prevalence of MS in Kermanshah (in 2012), the prevalence of MS in Kermanshah has increased during last decade. MS disabilities were more extensive in male rather than female.

Keywords: Kermanshah; Multiple sclerosis; Prevalence; Registry.