[Multiple sclerosis in the Bern canton (Switzerland). An epidemiologic study]

We conducted a study on the prevalence of multiple sclerosis in the canton of Berne (Switzerland) at the Department of Neurology (inpatient and outpatient sections) of the Inselspital hospital (University of Berne) in Berne. The canton of Berne is a heterogeneous region, geographically speaking, extending from the foot of the Jura mountains to high Alpine regions. There are approximately 920,000 inhabitants in an area of 6,000 square kilometers. Sources of our study were, besides the Department of Neurology of the University and the practising neurologists of Berne, the Association of Swiss Hospitals (VESKA) and the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Society. For ensuring a safe diagnosis we employed a diagnosis score suggested by C. M. Poser et al (1983). This covered only safely established and probable cases of MS. To make sure of the actual residence of the retrospectively assessed patients we conducted a checkup with the relevant authorities. Besides personal data it was also possible, in a majority of patients, to obtain data on the onset and course of the disease. On 1, 1, 1986 1,016 MS patients were residents in the canton of Berne, according to our investigations. This corresponds to a prevalence rate of 110 MS patients for every 100.000 inhabitants. The sex ratio (female/male) is about 1.8: 1. The average age of the MS patients covered by the study was 50 years with an average duration of the disease of 18 years. From the data concerning the course of the disease our study was able to gain further pointers on the beginning of the disease, on the pattern of symptoms, course of the disease, and progression of multiple sclerosis.