Global, regional, and national burden of multiple sclerosis from 1990 to 2019: Findings of global burden of disease study 2019

Zhen Qian; Yuancun Li; Zhiqiang Guan; Pi Guo; Ke Zheng; Yali Du; Shengjie Yin; Binyao Chen; Hongxi Wang; Jiao Jiang; Kunliang Qiu; Mingzhi Zhang

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1073278

Global, regional, and national burden of multiple sclerosis from 1990 to 2019: Findings of global burden of disease study 2019

Front Public Health. 2023 Feb 17:11:1073278. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1073278. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Zhen Qian¹, Yuancun Li¹, Zhiqiang Guan¹, Pi Guo², Ke Zheng¹, Yali Du¹, Shengjie Yin¹, Binyao Chen¹, Hongxi Wang¹, Jiao Jiang¹, Kunliang Qiu¹, Mingzhi Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China.
² Department of Preventive Medicine, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, China.

Abstract

Background: The global rising prevalence and incidence of multiple sclerosis (MS) has been reported during the past decades. However, details regarding the evolution of MS burden have not been fully studied. This study aimed to investigate the global, regional, and national burden and temporal trends in MS incidence, deaths, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from 1990 to 2019 using the age-period-cohort analysis.

Methods: We performed a secondary comprehensive analysis of incidence, deaths, and DALYs of MS by calculating the estimated annual percentage change from 1990 to 2019 obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 study. The independent age, period, and birth cohort effects were evaluated by an age-period-cohort model.

Results: In 2019, there were 59,345 incident MS cases and 22,439 MS deaths worldwide. The global number of incidences, deaths, and DALYs of MS followed an upward trend, whereas the age-standardized rates (ASR) slightly declined from 1990 to 2019. High socio-demographic index (SDI) regions had the highest ASR of incidences, deaths, and DALYs in 2019, while the rate of deaths and DALYs in medium SDI regions are the lowest. Six regions which include high-income North America, Western Europe, Australasia, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe had higher ASR of incidences, deaths, and DALYs than other regions in 2019. The age effect showed that the relative risks (RRs) of incidence and DALYs reached the peak at ages 30-39 and 50-59, respectively. The period effect showed that the RRs of deaths and DALYs increased with the period. The cohort effect showed that the later cohort has lower RRs of deaths and DALYs than the early cohort.

Conclusion: The global cases of incidence, deaths, and DALYs of MS have all increased, whereas ASR has declined, with different trends in different regions. High SDI regions such as European countries have a substantial burden of MS. There are significant age effects for incidence, deaths, and DALYs of MS globally, and period effects and cohort effects for deaths and DALYs.

Keywords: age-period-cohort effects; burden; global; multiple sclerosis; national; regional.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Europe
Global Burden of Disease*
Humans
Income
Multiple Sclerosis*
North America

Grants and funding

This study was partly supported by the Special Fund for Science and Technology of Guangdong Province (Grant Number: 2019ST024) and the Science and Technology Plan Project of Shantou (Grant Number: 汕府科 [2019]106).