title: Increasing prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
abstract: In 1996, the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) for the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires using the capture-recapture method was estimated to be between 14 and 19.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The aim of this study was to update the prevalence to 2014 following the same methodology.
  
  
  METHODS
  Gran Buenos Aires is the denomination that refers to the megalopolis comprised by the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the surrounding conurbation of the province of Buenos Aires. The study was carried out taking December 2014 as the prevalence month. We used the capture-recapture method to estimate the prevalence of MS cross-matching registries from 6 MS Centers from the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires. Log-linear model Poisson regression was used to estimate the number of affected MS patients not detected by any of the 6 sources considered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  1035 registries were obtained from the 6 lists from 910 different patients detected. The population of the area based on 2010 census was 12,806,866, the number of MS cases estimated amongst source interactions were 4901. The estimated prevalence was 38.2 per 100,000 inhabitants (95% CI 36.1-41.2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study is an update almost 20 years after the first one in the area showing a significant increase in the previous reported prevalence. Our findings are in line with previous studies performed in other regions of the world.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Esclerosis Múltiple de Buenos Aires, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cristiano
authors.affiliation: Centro de Esclerosis Múltiple de Buenos Aires, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Patrucco
authors.affiliation: Centro de Esclerosis Múltiple de Buenos Aires, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miguez
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Section, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giunta
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute for Neurological Research Dr. Raúl Carrea, FLENI, Argentina.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Correale
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute for Neurological Research Dr. Raúl Carrea, FLENI, Argentina.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiol
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute for Neurological Research Dr. Raúl Carrea, FLENI, Argentina.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ysrraelit
authors.affiliation: Neurosciences Institute of Buenos Aires, INEBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cáceres
authors.affiliation: Neurosciences Institute of Buenos Aires, INEBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: N Fernandez
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Liguori
authors.affiliation: Neurosciences Institute of Buenos Aires, INEBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Saladino
authors.affiliation: Clínica de Esclerosis Múltiple Hospital Dr. J. M. Ramos Mejía, Argentina.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Garcea
authors.affiliation: Clínica de Esclerosis Múltiple Hospital Dr. J. M. Ramos Mejía, Argentina.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Clínica de Esclerosis Múltiple Hospital Dr. J. M. Ramos Mejía, Argentina.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.affiliation: Hospital Británico Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carrá
authors.affiliation: Hospital Británico Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Curbelo
authors.affiliation: Hospital Británico Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.affiliation: Hospital Británico Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.affiliation: Asociación de Lucha Contra la Esclerosis Múltiple (ALCEM), Argentina.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giachello
authors.affiliation: Fundación para la Investigación en Neuroepidemiología, Argentina.
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Melcom
authors.affiliation: Centro de Esclerosis Múltiple de Buenos Aires, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: juan.rojas@hospitalitaliano.org.ar.
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Rojas
mesh_terms: D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries
keywords: Capture-recapture; Epidemiology; Multiple sclerosis; Prevalence