[Clinical epidemiology of multiple sclerosis in Moscow. Descriptive epidemiology in population of one region of...

The epidemiological study of multiple sclerosis (MS) has been done in the population (927 400 people) of the North-Western Administrative District (SZAO) of Moscow for the period of 2008-2012. In average for the 5 years the prevalence of MS was amounted to 53.38 cases per 100 000 population, incidence was 2.16 cases per 100 000 population and the mortality rate was 0.23 cases per 100 000 population. Thus, the population of SZAO belongs to high-incidence area. An increase in the prevalence of MS as well as a reduction of incidence and mortality were observed during a comparative analysis with the epidemiological indicators of MS in Moscow in the period of 1991-1996. Such dynamics of epidemiological indicators is due to the accumulation of patients in population that, in the first place, is related with the quality improvement of diagnostic and therapeutic-rehabilitative measures which increased the frequency of early diagnosis and patient's life expectancy together with the implementation of disease-modifying therapy (DMT) and modern methods of symptomatic treatment.