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Clinical features of patients with multiple sclerosis from a survey in Shanghai, China

¹ Department of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Medical School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
² Department of Neurology, Renji Hospital, Medical School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
³ Department of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Medical School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
⁴ Department of Neurology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China
⁵ Department of Neurology, Xinhua Hospital, Medical School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
⁶ Department of Neurology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
⁷ Department of Neurology, Shanghai No. 6 People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
⁸ Department of Neurology, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China
⁹ Department of Radiology, Ruijin Hospital, Medical School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
¹⁰ Institute of Health Science, Shanghai Institutes of Biological Sciences (SIBS), Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
¹¹ Department of Public Heath Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
¹² Division of Neurology, Karolinska Institute, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

Objective

To describe clinical features of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Shanghai, China.

Methods

Prevalent patients with MS were identified and investigated by a network of physicians in 11 districts of Shanghai during the period from 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2005. Admission registries of each hospital in the study area were checked systematically for patients with a diagnosis of MS, neuromyelitis optica or other demyelinating disorders. All patients with collected information were evaluated by four senior neurologists according to the McDonald criteria.

Results

There were 249 (146 female and 103 male) patients with a confirmed MS diagnosis, at a female-to-male ratio of 1.4. The mean age at onset of MS was 37.4�years for the 249 patients with MS and, on the prevalence day, 42.7�years. The most frequent location of clinical MS lesions in the central nervous system was the spinal cord (61%), followed by the cerebrum (55%) and optic nerves (41%). Nearly all (96%) of the patients with MS had been examined by magnetic resonance imaging, and 226 (94%) patients of those examined were suggestive of MS. No family history of MS was found in any of the patients. Most (86%) of the patients had no or mild disability on the prevalence day (31 December 2004). Almost all (96%) patients with MS had been treated with corticosteroids.

Conclusion

Clinical features of patients with MS are described based on the information from the largest case series reported among Chinese. Comparisons and discussions are made with findings from the other populations.

Key Words: Chinese, clinical features, multiple sclerosis, survey

First published on April 18, 2008, doi:10.1177/1352458507087844

Multiple Sclerosis 2008;14:671.

A more recent version of this article appeared on June 1, 2008


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