title: Frequency of reported European ancestry among multiple sclerosis patients from four cities in the southern and southeastern regions of Brazil.
abstract: Recent reports on the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) have described discrepancies between the rates in cities in the northeastern and southeastern regions of Brazil, representing a north-south gradient. European immigrants settled in southeastern and southern Brazil at the beginning of the twentieth century. In this study, we report the frequency of European ancestors among Brazilian MS patients in four cities in the southern and southeastern regions of Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 652 consecutive patients with confirmed MS diagnoses seen at four centers in Belo Horizonte, Ribeirão Preto, Londrina and Santos were asked about the origin of their ancestors, going back three generations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  287 (44%) reported Italian ancestry, 211 (32%) reported that all ancestors were born in Brazil, 49 (7.5%) had Portuguese ancestry and 70 (10%) had Spanish ancestry. The patients in Belo Horizonte and Londrina reported higher proportions of Italian ancestry than the proportions estimated for the populations of their respective States.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Brazil has a north-south gradient of 0.91/100,000 per degree of latitude, which is higher than the gradient for Latin America. Since the largest immigrant group that settled in southern and southeastern Brazil was from Italy, it is possible that Italian immigration was one of the factors that have contributed toward increasing the prevalence of MS in these regions.
authors.affiliation: General Hospital, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. elizcomini@gmail.com
authors.forename: Elizabeth Regina
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Comini-Frota
authors.forename: Doralina Guimarães
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Brum
authors.forename: Damacio Ramon
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Kaimen-Maciel
authors.forename: Yara Dadalti
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Fragoso
authors.forename: Amilton Antunes
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Barreira
authors.forename: Eduardo Antonio
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Donadi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D011174:Portugal / Q000208:ethnology; D015995:Prevalence; D013030:Spain / Q000208:ethnology; D014505:Urban Population; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Brazilian patients; Epidemiology; Immigration; Multiple sclerosis; Prevalence