title: Discrepancy, coincidence or evidence in chronic idiopathic spastic paraparesis throughout the world. A meta-analysis on 2811 patients.
abstract: HTLV-I has been associated with a chronic idiopathic spastic paraparesis (CHISPA) in man; however, a complete understanding of this association is still debated. We selected the most comprehensible papers on this topic between 1985 and 1996, and found that 1261 out of 2811 patients (44.9%) reported, throughout the world, were HTLV-I positive. The mean age was 39.5 years and there was a female predominance of 1.9:1. These results do not exclude the causality of HTLV-I as a germen associated to CHISPA; however, other causes (e.g., toxic, immunosuppressors) must be considered as participating in the multistep neurodegeneration observed in CHISPA throughout the world.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology and Human Neurobiology, UIS-Santander University School of Medicine Bucaramanga, Colombia. feleones@multicomputo.multinet.com.co
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Leon-S
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gaffga
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*