title: Gender ratio trends over time in multiple sclerosis patients from Argentina.
abstract: Several studies in multiple sclerosis (MS) suggest a trend of increasing disease frequency in women during the last decades. A direct comparison of gender ratio trends among MS populations from Argentina remains to be carried out. The objective of the study was to compare gender ratio trends, over a 50-year span in MS populations from Argentina.
  
  
  METHODS
  multicenter study that included patients from 14 MS Centers of Argentina. Patients with definite MS with birth years ranging from 1940 to 1989 were included. Gender ratios were calculated by five decades based on year of birth and were adjusted for the F/M born-alive ratio derived from the Argentinean national registry of births. The F/M ratios were calculated using a multivariate logistic regression per five decades by the year of birth approach. Analyses were performed using Stata 10.1.
  
  
  RESULTS
  1069 patients were included. Gender ratios showed a significant increase from the first to the last decade in the whole MS sample (from 1.8 to 2.7; p value for trend=0.023). The Gender ratio did not show differences considering MS subtype.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  our study showed a modest increase of the F/M ratio (from 1.8 to 2.7) over time among patients affected by MS in Argentina.
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
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: Instituto de Neurociencias Fundación Favaloro (INCyT), Argentina.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sinay
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Neurociencias Fundación Favaloro (INCyT), Argentina.
authors.forename: F Pagani
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Cassara
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: Centro de Investigación DIABAID, Argentina.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Deri
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación DIABAID, Argentina.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jaacks
authors.affiliation: Private Office, Argentina.
authors.forename: M Parada
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Marcilla
authors.affiliation: Hospital Italiano de Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Arrigoni
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: 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: Hospital Escuela "José F. De San Martín", Corrientes, Argentina.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bestoso
authors.affiliation: Hospital General de Agudos Carlos G Durand, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Hryb
authors.affiliation: Hospital General de Agudos Carlos G Durand, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Di Pace
authors.affiliation: Hospital General de Agudos Carlos G Durand, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Perassolo
authors.affiliation: Hospital Alemán, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: E Carnero
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Contentti
authors.affiliation: Hospital Alemán, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caride
authors.affiliation: Hospital Alemán, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.affiliation: Private Office, Argentina.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.affiliation: Hospital Julio Mendez, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.affiliation: Centro de Esclerosis Múltiple de Buenos Aires, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giunta
authors.affiliation: Centro de Esclerosis Múltiple de Buenos Aires, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cristiano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012744:Sex Ratio
keywords: Argentina; Epidemiology; Gender ratio; Multiple sclerosis