Multiple sclerosis in a small urban community in Central Poland

Abstract

The prevalence rate of multiple sclerosis in Pruszkow — a small community in central Poland — was found to be 28.5 cases per 100,000 population. The incidence rate in this community was 1.2 cases per 100,000 population per year. A number of environmental variables affecting these patients was investigated, including: birthplace, early residence, migratory patterns, year and location at onset, degree of exposure to solar radiation during early life, personal contacts and the proximity of residences among patients, any cluster of cases by years of onset, other neurological disorders among relatives of patients with multiple sclerosis, and the characteristics of housing and sanitation facilities. None of these variables distinguished the patients with multiple sclerosis from the other residents of Pruszkow. All the patients studied were born in north-eastern Europe. Eight of 13 patients had the first symptoms of their multiple sclerosis while living in Pruszkow. The frequency of multiple sclerosis in the community studied did not differ from the other communities studied in this geographical region. This study supports the impression that multiple sclerosis tends to occur according to a random pattern in regard to place and time in populations living in the northern European latitudes, and does not suggest the presence of any localized or temporally varying exogenous aetiological agency.