The following is a summary of “Prevalence and incidence of multiple sclerosis in the Netherlands,” published in the December 2024 issue of Neurology by Lemmens et al.
The rising prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) globally underscores the need for current epidemiological data specific to the Netherlands.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess the prevalence and incidence of MS in the Netherlands.
They combined data from 2 Dutch healthcare databases (Nivel Primary Care Database and Vektis Database) in 2019, analyzing age- and sex-standardized prevalence and incidence estimates of MS.
The results showed that the age- and sex-standardized prevalence estimate of MS was 210.4 per 100,000 individuals, and the incidence estimate was 7.1 per 100,000 person-years for 2019. Additionally, 1-third of people with MS in primary care records were not documented in hospital databases over 2 consecutive years. Furthermore, the prevalence of MS was higher in northern areas (240.6 per 100,000) compared to southern regions (208.3 per 100,000).
They concluded that while the prevalence of MS in the Netherlands has increased, the incidence remains stable, and many people with MS may not be under specialized neurological care.
Source: msard-journal.com/article/S2211-0348(24)00783-1/abstract
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