The prevalence of multiple sclerosis, distribution of clinical forms of the disease and functional status of patients in Csongrad County, Hungary

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of multipl e sclerosis (MS) in the population of Csongrad County, Hungary (400,128 inh abitants) and to determine the functional status (based on the Expanded Dis ability Status Scale; EDSS) of the patients according to the clinical forms of the disease. Methods: The diagnosis was established with the aid of the Poser diagnostic criteria, and the degree of physical disability was deter mined using the Kurtzke EDSS. Results: In Csongrad County, the prevalence o f MS is 62/100,000. The distribution of patients according to the clinical forms of MS was as follows: 15% had the benign form, 54% had relapsing-remi tting MS, 20% had secondary chronic progressive MS and 11% had the primary chronic progressive form of MS. Sixty percent of relapsing-remitting MS pat ients had an EDSS score of 0-4 points and 33% had an EDSS score of 4.5-6.5 points. Conclusion: The distribution of patients according to the clinical forms of the disease in this representative population is comparable to res ults in other regions of the world. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.