18-year temporal trend of multiple sclerosis in southern Iran.
BACKGROUND
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) imposes significant burdens on patients, their families, and national healthcare systems particularly when there is a resource constraint. Proper prioritization and resource allocation are therefore essential for any effective disease management. Accordingly, we sought to assess the temporal profile of MS incidence over the past two decades in southeast Iran.


METHODS
A longitudinal design was employed using data from the Iranian multiple sclerosis registry system from March 2001 to March 2019 (n=6034). Annual age-standardized incidence rates of MS (cases of clinically isolated syndrome were also included) were calculated and the trend of incidence from 2001 to 2018 was analyzed.


RESULTS
The age-adjusted incidence rate of MS raised from 1.72/100,000 in 2001 to 11.29/100,000 in 2018 (average of 18-year incidence rate was 6.30/100,000), indicating a notable rise in the incidence of MS (P-Value<0.001). However, the female to male ratio of 3.62 remained relatively stable during the study period.


CONCLUSION
Our study suggests that, in Fars province, the incidence of MS has been remarkably rising over the past two decades. We recommend further studies to better understand the determinants of this pattern. Implementing effective policies in lowering the burden of MS is another important step in this regard.
['Mobasheri|Farzaneh|F|', 'Fararouei|Mohammad|M|', 'Hasanzadeh|Jafar|J|', 'Jaberi|Abbas Rahimi|AR|']
D005260:Female D006801:Humans D015994:Incidence D007492:Iran D008297:Male D009103:Multiple Sclerosis D015995:Prevalence D012042:Registries
Trend Multiple sclerosis Incidence