title: Clinical features of patients with multiple sclerosis from a survey in Shanghai, China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe clinical features of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Shanghai, China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prevalent patients with MS were identified and investigated by a network of physicians in 11 districts of Shanghai during the period from 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2005. Admission registries of each hospital in the study area were checked systematically for patients with a diagnosis of MS, neuromyelitis optica or other demyelinating disorders. All patients with collected information were evaluated by four senior neurologists according to the McDonald criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 249 (146 female and 103 male) patients with a confirmed MS diagnosis, at a female-to-male ratio of 1.4. The mean age at onset of MS was 37.4 years for the 249 patients with MS and, on the prevalence day, 42.7 years. The most frequent location of clinical MS lesions in the central nervous system was the spinal cord (61%), followed by the cerebrum (55%) and optic nerves (41%). Nearly all (96%) of the patients with MS had been examined by magnetic resonance imaging, and 226 (94%) patients of those examined were suggestive of MS. No family history of MS was found in any of the patients. Most (86%) of the patients had no or mild disability on the prevalence day (31 December 2004). Almost all (96%) patients with MS had been treated with corticosteroids.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinical features of patients with MS are described based on the information from the largest case series reported among Chinese. Comparisons and discussions are made with findings from the other populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Medical School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. qicheng@5hsmu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Z G
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: X J
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Z X
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: X Y
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Z I
authors.initials: ZI
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: X J
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: G X
authors.initials: GX
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fredrikson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020528:Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Progressive / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000473:pathology; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000473:pathology; D009471:Neuromyelitis Optica / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D012720:Severity of Illness Index