Multiple sclerosis in Oslo, Norway: prevalence on 1 January 1995 and incidence over a 25-year period

• Published in: European journal of neurology Vol. 8; no. 5; pp. 463 - 469
• Main Authors: Celius, E. G., Vandvik, B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.09.2001
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Age of Onset; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Child; Child, Preschool; Cohort Studies; Female; Humans; incidence; Infant; Male; Middle Aged; multiple sclerosis; Multiple Sclerosis - epidemiology; Norway - epidemiology; prevalence; Registries; Sex Factors; Time Factors; Norway
• ISSN: 1351-5101; 1468-1331
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1468-1331.2001.00269.x

The Oslo Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Registry was established in 1990, and this is the first report on the prevalence and incidence of MS in the city of Oslo, Norway. The prevalence rate of definite MS on 1 January 1995 was 120.4/105. Inclusion of patients of native Norwegian ancestry only and exclusion of non‐Norwegian immigrants yielded a prevalence rate of 136.0/105. A similar prevalence rate (136.5/105) was found when patients and immigrants from the other Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Denmark) were included. Segregation of the native Norwegian patients according to the counties where they were born showed no significant differences except for a disproportionate increase of patients born in the inland county of Oppland.  A total of 794 cases were resident in Oslo at the time of a diagnosis of definite MS in the period 1972–99. The crude average annual incidence rate for each 5‐year period, between 1972 and 1996, increased significantly from 3.7/105 in the 1972–76 to 8.7/105 in the 1992–96 period. The increase was more marked in relapsing‐remitting (RR) than in primary progressive disease and in female cases.