Clinical and Epidemiological Aspects of Multiple Sclerosis in Children



Nasehi MM^{1, 2} ; Sahraian MA² ; Moghadasi AN³ ; Ghofrani M^{1, 2} ; Ashtari F⁴ ; Taghdiri MM^{1, 2} ; Tonekaboni SH^{1, 2} ; Karimzadeh P^{1, 2} ; Afshari M⁵ ; Moosazadeh M⁶
Source: Iranian Journal of Child Neurology Published:2017

Abstract

Objective Overall, 2%-5% of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) experienced the first episode of disease before the age 18 years old. Since the age of onset among children is not similar to that in general population, clinicians often fail to early diagnose the disease. This study aimed to determine the epidemiological and clinical patterns of MS among Iranian children. Materials & Methods In this cross-sectional study carried out in Iran in 2014-2015, information was collected using a checklist with approved reliability and validity. Method sampling was consensus. Data were analyzed using frequency, mean and standard deviation indices by means of SPSS ver. 20 software. Results Totally, 177 MS children were investigated. 75.7% of them were female. Mean (SD), minimum and maximum age of subjects were 15.9 (2), 7 and 18 yr, respectively. The most reported symptoms were sensory (28.2%), motor (29.4%), diplopia (20.3%) and visual (32.8%). Primary MRI results showed 91.5% and 53.1% periventricular and spinal cord lesions, respectively. Conclusion MS is significantly more common among women. The most common age of onset is during the second decades. Sensory and motor problems are the most symptoms, while, periventricular and spinal cord lesions are the most MRI results. © 2017, Iranian Child Neurology Society. All rights reserved.