Abstract
Background: Multiple sclerosis is thought to be relatively uncommon in the Asia Pacific region with prevalence estimated between 0 and 20 per 100,000. There is reason to doubt these estimates due to the lack of data from many countries and the growing evidence of variability in prevalence across small geographic areas. This study was conducted to systematically review the population prevalence, incidence, mortality and disability progression estimates of MS within the Asia Pacific region.Methods: The systematic review was conducted on articles from 1985 till 31st July 2017 within the PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS, and The Cochrane Library databases. The review included articles that were population-based studies conducted on patients with MS in the Asia Pacific region that reported either incidence, prevalence, mortality, or disease progression. Hospital-based studies and non-research articles were excluded to ensure that only information representative of the population was included for analysis. Data appraisal and extraction was done by independent reviewers. This review was registered with PROSPERO (ID: CRD42017082760).Findings: Of the 2,757 articles found, 16 studies were included. Information on 6 (18.75%) of 32 Asia Pacific countries was found, with data representing 8% of the total population. Prevalence estimates were available for 6 countries while estimates for incidence (3 countries), mortality (4 countries), and disease progression (2 countries) were limited.Interpretation: The lack of epidemiological data available in the Asia Pacific region creates a blind spot in the surveillance of MS which obscures the true burden of MS, causing patients to struggle to receive the resources and funding that they need.
Highlights
Multiple sclerosis is one of the most common neurological diseases of the central nervous system with an estimated global prevalence in 2013 of 33 per 100,000
6 of the 32 countries included in the geographical region had published literature on the epidemiology of multiple sclerosis, namely: China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan
Houzen et al speculate that the increase in the prevalence of MS in Tokachi province may be related to the reported increase in incidence as opposed to changes in diagnostic capabilities, which did not change during the study period
Summary
Multiple sclerosis is one of the most common neurological diseases of the central nervous system with an estimated global prevalence in 2013 of 33 per 100,000. Multiple sclerosis is thought to be relatively uncommon in the Asia Pacific region. There is, good reason to doubt these estimates given the lack of data from many of the countries in the Asia Pacific region and the reliance on weak “expert opinion” for some of the data points [1, 3,4,5]. Multiple sclerosis is thought to be relatively uncommon in the Asia Pacific region with prevalence estimated between 0 and 20 per 100,000. There is reason to doubt these estimates due to the lack of data from many countries and the growing evidence of variability in prevalence across small geographic areas. This study was conducted to systematically review the population prevalence, incidence, mortality and disability progression estimates of MS within the Asia Pacific region
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