Racial modification of clinical picture of multiple sclerosis: comparison between British and Japanese patients

Two hundred and four consecutive British cases and 60 consecutive Japanese cases of probable (clinically definite) multiple sclerosis, seen at The National Hospital for Nervous Disease, Maida Vale, London and at Kyushu University Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan, respectively, over a defined period of time, were reviewed retrospectively by the same neurologist, using the same diagnostic criteria and the same method of analysis. The clinical pictures in the present 2 series were in many respects similar to each other and to that of other reported series. Some significant differences were found, however: there was (1) a greater incidence of visual loss at the onset of illness, (2) more frequent and severe involvement of spinal cord and brainstem during the course of illness, as judged clinically, and (3) more severe visual disability in the Japanese series as compared with the British series.