Clinical features of multiple sclerosis in the south of Brazil: a partial analysis

• Autor(a) principal: Finkelsztejn,Alessandro
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Cristovam,Rafael do Amaral, Moraes,Gisele Silva de, Lopes,Mariah Graziani de Souza Mello, Silva,Aline Vitali da, Garcia,Marcio Severo, Cola,Caroline Miotto Menegat, Bastiani,Carlos Eduardo, Ferreira,Lísia Barros, Costa,Amanda Lucas da, Schneider,Silvete Maria Brandão, Frison,Thirzá Baptista
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2009000600021
• topic: multiple sclerosis; epidemiology; depressive symptoms; sexual dysfunctions

There are no published studies on the characteristics of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients from the south of Brazil. OBJECTIVE: To identify the clinical features of a series of MS patients and to compare to other Brazilian series. METHOD: Retrospective study with 67 patients followed in The MS Reference Center - RS, Brazil during the year of 2008. We analyzed demographic and clinical data. RESULTS: Most were women (74.6%), the general average age was 43.5 years old, and the general average EDSS score was 4.1. Of those patients, 81.8% had relapsing-remitting MS. Sexual dysfunction prevalence was 31.1% in men and 68.9% in women (p<0.01). We found a positive correlation (Spearman=0.444, p<0.05) between EDSS and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: This study showed a very similar sample compared to other states of Brazil. Moreover, there was found a high prevalence of sexual dysfunction and a straight relation between EDSS and depressive symptoms.