title: Multiple sclerosis in Gijon health district, Asturias, northern Spain.
abstract: The objective of this study was to ascertain the prevalence and incidence of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in a population of 33,775 in two primary health care centres in the sanitary district of Gijon, Asturias, northern Spain. Many information sources were used but the unique advantage of Gijon was that the city has a centralized computerized register of all diagnoses made for all consultations in the clinics and hospitals in the area. The HLA distribution in the population was already known and the Poser classification of MS was used. The crude MS prevalence was 65/100,000, a similar prevalence to that found in southern and eastern Spain, Sicily and Greek-speaking Cyprus. The mean incidence was 3.7/100,000 per year. The study demonstrated the advantage of a centralized and computerized medical recording system and demonstrates that northern Spain is a moderately high or medium MS risk zone.
authors.affiliation: Hospital San Agustin, Aviles, Department of Neurology, Asturias, Spain.
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Uria
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Abad
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Calatayud
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Virgala
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diaz
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chamizo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dean
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology