Juvenile Type of Multiple Sclerosis. Epidemiologic Analysis
E. KOUTSOURAKI, A. PARLAPANIS, F. FOTIOU, K. SIAMOULIS, P. HAMLATZIS, A. ZAFIROPOULOS, S, BALOYANNIS

We have studied, retrospectively, over a ten-years period, 69 cases of MS patients, who demonstrated the first manifestation of the disease between the age of 12-20 years and we compared them with the childhood and adult type of the disease. The sex ratio was 1: 1.5 (males/females), all the patients had a relapsing-remmiting course, most of them (68%) had monosymptomatic onset of the disease and the most common symptom was optic neuritis. We have noticed that the juvenile type of MS had similar characters to the childhood type at the onset of the disease but followed a more severe course leading to moderate disability. In contrast the final disability, according to EDSS, in the juvenile MS group was lower than in the adult type.

In conclusion we can say that the juvenile type of MS is a disease entity and we must differentiate it from the childhood and adult type of MS.

Key words: Childhood MS/ Juvenile MS/ Adult type of MS.