Increasing Incidence and Prevalence of Multiple Sclerosis in Puerto Rico (2013-2016)

The incidence of multiple sclerosis (MS) has been increasing worldwide over the past decades. However, this upward trend has not been examined at the country level in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The aims of this study are to examine trends of MS incidence over 4 years and to provide age- and gender-standardized incidence rate estimates for a Caribbean island.

Data from the Puerto Rico (PR) MS Foundation's registry was used to identify all newly diagnosed MS cases between 2013 and 2016. MS patients were 18 years and older and met the 2010 revised McDonald criteria. Age- and gender-standardized incidence rates were estimated.

A total of 583 new MS cases were diagnosed in PR from 2013 to 2016. The age- and gender-standardized MS incidence rate for PR increased from 6.1/100,000 in 2013 to 6.7/100,000 in 2016. The annual age-standardized MS incidence rates for females rose from 8.4/100,000 in 2013 to 9.8/100,000 in 2016 and were higher than males, which remained around 3.7/100,000.

Incidence estimates for PR were higher than other LAC countries but consistent with MS increases in other world regions. Our findings tend to rule out several prior potential environmental explanations for high MS incidence rates.