title: Descriptive epidemiology of some rare neurological diseases in Benghazi, Libya.
abstract: During a 4-year study period, January 1983 to December 1986, 24 patients (18 index cases) with spinal muscular atrophy (hereditary motor neuropathy, HMN), 9 with myasthenia gravis (MG), 6 with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and 5 with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) were diagnosed in Benghazi. The HMN group comprised 6 acute infantile, 12 chronic childhood, and 3 each with adult-onset proximal, and distal forms of the disease. The crude average annual incidence of acute infantile HMN was 0.3/100,000 total population and 1/12,500 births in Benghazi. The crude prevalence rates of chronic childhood, adult-onset proximal, and distal types of HMN were 2.3, 0.6 and 0.6/100,000, respectively. The larger family size and the high rate of consanguineous marriages contribute to the high frequency of HMN in the study area. Distal HMN constituted 12.5% of the total cases. The adjusted average incidence of MG was 4.4/million/year, 2.1 for males and 6.8 for females. The female:male incidence ratio was 3.2:1. The crude average annual incidence rates/million inhabitants for PSP asnd SSPE were 3 and 2.4, respectively. The frequency of occurrence of SSPE among the subtropical Arab community under investigation is comparable with other surveys from the Middle East and Mediterranean region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Arab Medical University, Benghazi, Libya.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Radhakrishnan
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Thacker
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Maloo
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Gerryo
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Mousa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008002:Libya; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009134:Muscular Atrophy, Spinal / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013344:Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013494:Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / Q000453:epidemiology*