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Temporal trends of incidence and prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Razavi Khorasan Province, Northeast Iran

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Abstract

Objectives

The prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the Persian Gulf countries has been significantly increasing during the past decades. This study was conducted for investigating the prevalence and incidence of MS in Northeast Iran (Khorasan Razavi province).

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted during 1 January 1988 and 23 September 2018. All patients with a clinically definite diagnosis of MS according to the McDonald criteria (2005) and MRI along with the medical diagnosis, recorded in the Khorasan MS society, were considered for calculation of crude and age-standardized prevalence, and incidence rates of MS. The periodic incidence rates were calculated based on the year of onset of MS. Also, we calculated gender ratios for prevalence and incidence rates.

Results

The mean age-standardized prevalence and incidence rates of MS in the Khorasan Razavi were 8.69 (95% CI 8.05–9.41) per 100,000 (3.99 (95% CI 3.39–4.74) for males, 13.49 (95% CI 12.37–14.76) for females). Age-standardized prevalence was 48.87 (95% CI 48.37–49.35) per 100,000 (22.47 (95% CI 22.01–22.93) for males, 75.65 (95% CI 74.80–76.51) for females). Also, the mean incidence and prevalence for Mashhad County as capital of province were 11.38 and 59.09 per 100,000 populations, respectively. The female/male ratio was 3.33 for all age groups.

Conclusion

Our results showed that this region is a high-risk area for MS like central region of Iran. Our results revealed that the prevalence and incidence of MS in the study area have increased during the recent decades with a sharp slope.

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Funding

This study received financial support from Student Research Committee of Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences (grant number SRC-98-130).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran

    Mohammad Sarmadi & Edris Bazrafshan

  2. Health Sciences Research Center, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran

    Mohammad Sarmadi, Omid Azizi & Edris Bazrafshan

  3. Student of Emergency Nurse, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran

    Hanie Saravani

  4. Imam Ali Research Hospital, School of nursing and midwifery, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran

    Hanie Saravani

  5. Department of Laboratory Sciences, School of Paramedical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran

    Omid Azizi

  6. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Fereshteh Najafi

  7. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran

    Mostafa Hadei

  8. Student Research Committee, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran

    Jalil Momeni

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  1. Mohammad Sarmadi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohammad Sarmadi.

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Ethics code (IR.THUMS.REC.1398.021) was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences.

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For this type of study, informed consent is not required.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 3 Age-specific female-to-male (F/M) prevalence ratio for MS
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Table 4 Mean age of patients in prevalence year and the age at onset in MS
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Sarmadi, M., Saravani, H., Azizi, O. et al. Temporal trends of incidence and prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Razavi Khorasan Province, Northeast Iran. Neurol Sci 43, 583–591 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-021-05280-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-021-05280-5

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