PREVALENCE OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (MS) DISEASE AMONG SAUDI POPULATION, KSA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that affects the brain and spinal cord and usually begins in early adulthood. The disease still leaves many questions unanswered and its course, symptoms and therapeutic success vary so much from patient to patient that general statements can only be made to a limited extent. For this reason, MS is also known as the "Disease with a 1000 Faces".

Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study to spot light on the prevalence of MS among Saudi population.  The study was carried out at universities, hospitals and malls in KSA. Data were collected from patients and general population during a period from April to October 2021.

Results: There were 704 females who were the majority of the study (70%) and the rest of participants were males (n= 301). Moreover, the most prevalent age group was 20-30 years of age (n= 441, 34.9%) and the least age group was more than 50 (n= 57, 5.7%). Also, majority of participants were non-smokers (n= 853, 84.9%). Furthermore, there were 71 participants had family history of multiple sclerosis (7.1%), and there were 23 participants have multiple sclerosis. With regards to MS risk factors, 477 participants had vit D deficiency, 39 had IBD, 34 had psoriasis, 19 had pernicious anemia, 12 had infectious mononucleosis and 7 had EBV.