A Review of Geoepidemiological Differences of Multiple Sclerosis in Iran and Other Middle East Countries

Abstract

Context: Review of epidemiological studies of different geographical regions show a wide variation in the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) worldwide. This study compares related geoepidemiological differences in prevalence of MS in the Middle East. Evidence Acquisition: Key words relevant to "prevalence of multiple sclerosis" were searched for with countries in the Middle East. Results: A prevalence of 31-55 per 100,000 individuals has been reported for Persian Gulf countries. The reported prevalence per Kuwait (n = 85.05) and United Arab Emirate (n = 54.4) seems to be high. The reported prevalence for Turkey and Jordan were 51 and 20, correspondingly. Within Iran, the highest and lowest prevalence seem to belong to Isfahan (n = 93.06) and Golestan (n = 18.0), respectively. Immunomodulating drugs such as Interferon-beta as a first-line therapy; and cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, mitoxantrone, and azathioprine have been considered as second-line therapies. Conclusions:The high prevalence of MS in the Middle East might be pointed toward the adverse effects of low vitamin D, individual daily life, smoking, Epstein-Barr virus infection, hereditary affects, and a history of depression.

Preliminary Study of Differences Between Prevalence of Multiple Sclerosis in Isfahan and its’ Rural Provinces

“…Traditionally, the current dilemma regarding early justification of the clinical and pathological manifestation of Hirnsklerose, also known as brain sclerosis or multiple sclerosis (MS), began in 1849 with Friedrich von Frerichs (1). MS is a recurrent neurological disease with growing incidence and prevalence worldwide and in the Middle East (2)(3)(4)(5).…”

Spirituality Believing in End Stage Diseases Such as; Genito-Urinary Cancers, Multiple Sclerosis, Recipients of Liver, Kidney or Heart Transplantations

“…Regarding to organ transplantation, the legendary and symbolic uses of the different parts of body in texts and paintings continue a fairly unknown topic. Previous publications reported that organ donation could be described as the manifestation of the love of our neighbor [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. A recent study performed in 5360 deceased confirmed that in order to prevent worse outcome in critically ill patients admitted to hospitals, quality of care need to be upgrading [20].…”

“…Within this population spiritual believing could improve heart rate and the ability of immune system to fight against the attack in such conditions. Indeed, God is with the patient with those who have believed, seek help through patience and entreaty [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Spirituality believing by patients could lead to better care.…”

Fingolimod for Multiple Sclerosis; Mechanism of Action, Safety and Toxicity

“…However, relapses are common and represent a major feature of MS but when relapses occurs, disability is accumulated and clinical management could face a big gap among different patients with MS (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). In patients with MS, those that receive disease-modifying drugs (DMDs) but still experience high disease activity, require different pharmacotherapy strategies (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”