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Multiple Sclerosis

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Neurological Disorders in the Arab World

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Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system. This chronic illness affects mainly young people and can lead to significant disabilities. This chapter discusses MS incidence, prevalence, clinical pattern and other aspects of the disease in the Arab World. Although the prevalence of MS among Arabs ranges from low to high, recent studies indicate that Arab countries are in the higher MS frequency zone. There is evidence from Kuwait indicating that there is an increase in the incidence and prevalence of MS. The overall clinical pattern in Arab patients with MS is similar to “Western type” MS. There are indications that MS follows a more aggressive course in North Africans and in the Druze living in Israel. Several factors showed prognostic value in Arab MS patients, including the extent of recovery from the first episode, the number of relapses, older age at onset, pyramidal or sphincter involvement at the start of the disease, age of onset, MS type, duration of illness, and use of interferon. The overall frequency of oligoclonal bands detected in cerebrospinal fluid of Arab patients with MS is lower than observed in most Western studies. Data about factors affecting the quality of life of MS patients in the Arab countries are available only from Kuwait. They show that longer duration of illness and treatment, depression, more severe disability, and carer’s negative attitude to the illness have a negative effect on quality of life. Further epidemiological and clinical studies about MS in Arab World are warranted.

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  1. The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Wolverhampton, UK

    Hani T. S. Benamer FRCP, PhD

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Benamer, H.T.S. (2014). Multiple Sclerosis. In: Neurological Disorders in the Arab World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07257-9_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07257-9_7

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