Associations of MRI-lesions and clinical features with disability in Chinese patients with multiple sclerosis

Objective: To analyze associations of MRI-lesions and clinical features with disability in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Shanghai, China. Methods: We studied patients with MS, identified from a survey in Shanghai, whose sites of lesions in the CNS was based on the MRI examinations. Associations between MRI-lesions, various clinical variables and the severity of disability were analyzed with univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: There were 210 patients in this study. The disability of the patients with lesions confined to the spinal cord was significantly more severe than those with lesions in the brain (p < 0.008). Current age (OR: 1.041, 95% CI: 1.007~1.077), MS duration (OR: 1.082, 95% CI: 1.011~1.159) and MRI-lesions in the spinal cord (OR: 2.441, 95% CI: 1.039~5.737) were significantly associated with severity of disability on multivariate logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: MRI-lesions in the spinal cord, older age, a longer MS duration were significantly associated with a more severe disability in this MS study in Shanghai China.

Review of the diagnosis and clinical features of multiple sclerosis in China / 神经科学通报·英文版

This review focused on the diagnosis and clinical features of multiple sclerosis (MS) in China. We have identified the published researching information from 1976 to 2008 in China. The key issues related to the diagnosis and clinical features of MS in China were summarized. The first patient with MS in China was reported in 1926 from Xiehe hospital. Case reports on MS have been increasing during recent decades. Almost all the patients with MS were confirmed by the McDonald criteria (1977) before 1984. After the year of 1992, even to this day, the Poser criteria were widely used in China. Although the new diagnostic criteria, McDonald criteria (2001), were presented in 2001, only few papers published in Chinese were reported. The most frequent initial symptoms or signs of the patients with MS were optic nerve, motor weakness and sensory symptoms. The most frequent location of MS lesions over the course was found to be the spinal cord, followed by the cerebrum and optic nerves. Almost all patients had been treated with corticosteroids. This review supported previous observations in Chinese patients with MS. However, further studies are needed to understand epidemiologic features of MS in China.