Multiple sclerosis prevalence across different ethnicities

35^th European Neurology Congress

June 14-15, 2021 Webinar

Kabir Kohli

University of Exeter Medical School, UK

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Neurol Disord

Abstract :

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disorder that can have very serious symptoms and life altering implications for the patient. This the most common neurological condition affecting young adults and its prevalence is increasing. The exact cause of this disease has not been pinpointed yet, but a range of potential risk factors have been identified and a key one of them is race/ethnicity. This investigation focuses on this risk factor and aims to review research pertaining to the prevalence of multiple sclerosis across different ethnic groups in order to explore whether members of some ethnic groups have a lower or higher risk of developing multiple sclerosis. Two key studies relevant to this topic were reviewed. One of the studies concluded that white people have the highest prevalence of multiple sclerosis followed by black people and Asians. The second study concluded that black people have the highest prevalence of multiple sclerosis followed by white people and Asians. Both studies conclude that Asians have the lowest prevalence, but disagree on which ethnic group has the highest. This lead to the conclusion that Asians have the lowest risk of developing multiple sclerosis but it is unclear as to which group has the highest risk of developing it.