Pediatric multiple sclerosis in Venezuela

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.