Multiple Sclerosis in Southern Europe: Monreale City, Italy

Abstract

Background: Several follow-up studies showed increasing prevalence and incidence rates for multiple sclerosis (MS). Objective: To ascertain, throughout a follow-up study, the incidence and prevalence of MS in the city of Monreale, Sicily, southern Italy. Methods: We calculated crude and age- and sex-specific prevalence rates on December 31, 2000, and determined incidence rates for the period January 1, 1992 to December 31, 2000. Results: The prevalence of MS was 71.2 per 100,000 population (48,5/100,000 in men; 93,0/100,000 in women). The incidence rate of MS for the period 1992–2000 was 4.0/100,000 per year. Conclusion: This study showed a nonsignificant increase in MS incidence rates in Monreale city for 1992–2000 compared to 1981–1991. Prevalence rates were similar to those of the previous follow-up study. Intervals between onset of symptoms and diagnosis seemed shorter than in prior studies. There is no evidence that the high prevalence and incidence rates have changed in this interval but numbers are too small for firm statements. These findings indicate that in Monreale city MS prevalence is stable and confirm Sicily as a high-risk area for MS.

Incidence of multiple sclerosis among European Economic Area populations, 1985-2009: the framework for monitoring

“…We also included a survey conducted in San Marino, a mini-state not formally belonging to the EEA, with human development indicators similar to or higher than those of EEA countries and specialised medical services shared with Italy [35]. Of the 37 reports, four were used for comparing age-specific incidence only [35,37,40,48], 16 provided data for studying trends [19,21,27,28,41,43,49-58] and seven could be used for both purposes [8,10,31,32,34,36,47]. Ten studies were excluded [24,26,30,33,38,39,42,46], [59,60], four due to incidences calculated from data sets based on age at diagnosis, i.e., explicitly reporting MS diagnoses instead of clinical onsets [30,33,46,60].…”

“…Review results for specific MSI, generally at 5- or, alternatively, at >5- [8,10,19,21,27,28,34,36], [41,47,49-56] or 1-year calendar time intervals [31,57,58] were obtained from original reports, disregarding other study-interval durations. Updated data were used for Ferrara [34,43] and Catania [10,32].…”

The prevalence of multiple sclerosis in the District of Santarém, Portugal

“…Several population studies conducted in recent years in continental Italy [2,7,10,[21][22][23]25], Sardinia [6,16,18], Sicily [13,17,19,20], Cyprus [11], Greece [12], and in Spain [1,5,14,24,26], showed higher than expected prevalence rates for MS. Disease frequency is far from being homogeneous in South Europe: the Mediterranean island of Malta in 1999 showed a low MS prevalence -13.2/100,000 [3], whereas later surveys conducted in the neighbouring island of Sicily show a MS prevalence ranging from 43.3 to 71.2 [13,17,19,20]. Some variability was also reported in continental Italy where surveys estimated MS prevalence rates ranging from 21.5 to 56/100,000 [3], being as high as 94/100,000 in a recent published study conducted in Genoa, northwest Italy [23].…”