%0 Journal Article
%T Pediatric multiple sclerosis in Venezuela
%A Pe£¿a
%A Joaqu¨ªn A.
%A Ravelo
%A Mar¨ªa Elena
%A Rubio
%A Evelio
%A Pirela
%A Dulce
%A Soto
%A Arnoldo
%A Nava
%A Cecilia Montiel
%J Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
%D 2012
%I Academia Brasileira de Neurologia - ABNEURO
%R 10.1590/S0004-282X2012000400008
%X objective: to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of venezuelan pediatric patients with multiple sclerosis (ms). methods: database records from the national program for ms were searched for patients with an established diagnosis of ms whose first symptoms appeared before age 18. results: the national database held records of 1.710 patients; 3.8% had onset of the first symptoms before age 18. 46.7% were boys, yielding an f:m ratio of 1.13:1. many children had a disease onset characterized by motor impairment (30.7%), brainstem/cerebellum and spinal cord affectation (27.6%), headache (26%). less frequent symptoms were sensory symptoms (8%) and optic neuritis (7%). discussion: pediatric ms patients in venezuela represent a significant proportion of all ms cases. the clinical pattern is characterized by motor symptoms at onset, and predominantly monosymptomatic presentation with a relapsing-remitting pattern. this is the first systematic attempt to estimate the prevalence of pediatric ms in venezuela.
%K multiple sclerosis
%K demyelinating disorders
%K children
%K epidemiology.
%U http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0004-282X2012000400008&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en