Introduction
We conducted a prevalence study of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the Spanish province of Zamora.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective cohort study of data on patients with multiple sclerosis under follow-up at the neurology outpatient clinic at Hospital de Zamora as of 6 June 2021. We studied demographic (sex, age) and clinical variables (form of disease, duration, expanded disability status scale [EDSS] score, progression index [EDSS/years duration], and treatment).
Results
As of 6 June 2021, the prevalence of MS was 98.8 cases/100000 population (95% confidence interval [CI], 91.3–106.3), and the mean incidence for the last 10 years was 3.5 cases/100000 person-years (95% CI, 2.1–4.9). The age-standardised prevalence (calculated using the 2013 European Standard Population) was 102.4 (95% CI, 83.5–121.3), and incidence was 4.6 (95% CI, 0.5–8.7).
Out of the 168 patients in our cohort, 119 (70.8%) were women. The mean age (standard deviation) in our sample was 46.5 (13.1) (95% CI, 45.5–47.5) years, and the mean disease duration was 12.6 (9.0) (95% CI, 11.8–13.4) years, with a median EDSS score of 2.0 (range, 0–8.5). A total of 129 (78.7%) patients were receiving treatment, of which 84 (51.2%) were receiving a moderate-efficacy drug and 42 (25.6%) were receiving a high-efficacy drug. Among patients not receiving treatment, this was mostly due to their personal decision, long disease duration, and/or clinical stability.
Conclusions
The prevalence of multiple sclerosis in the Spanish province of Zamora is intermediate-high and is in line with the mean for Spain.
