Acquired demyelinating disorders of childhood in the Western Cape, South Africa.
J Child Neurol
; 25(1): 48-56, 2010 Jan.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-19494357
ABSTRACT
In a retrospective review of patients with acquired demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system, 19 children (0.6%) were identified from the Paediatric Neurology database of 3159 patients; 7 had acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, 1 had Schilder's disease, 5 had multiple sclerosis, and 6 had acute transverse myelitis. The median age of presentation was 83 months, with increased incidence during the summer and winter months. The commonest presentation was hemiparesis. The commonest regions of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities were the deep white matter (68%) and cerebellum (48%).The patients with multiple sclerosis had more monosymptomatic presentations (P < .02), raised cerebrospinal fluid protein (P = .022), and contrast enhancement of lesions (P = .05) compared with the acute disseminated encephalomyelitis group. Neuroepidemiological published surveillances of African children provide no data about these disorders. The prevalence of acquired demyelinating disorders in resource-poor settings is under-estimated because of the large burden of infections and limited access to neuroimaging.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Diffuse Cerebral Sclerosis of Schilder
/
Encephalomyelitis, Acute Disseminated
/
Multiple Sclerosis
/
Myelitis, Transverse
Type of study:
Incidence_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Child
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
En
Journal:
J Child Neurol
Journal subject:
NEUROLOGIA
/
PEDIATRIA
Year:
2010
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
South Africa