EPIDEMIOLOGY OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS IN THE REPUBLIC OF KARELIA FOR THE PERIOD
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common neurological diseases of multifactorial origin in adults of young age. Climatic and geographical factors are supposed to be responsible for the geo-epidemiological dependence of the MS morbidity. Considering the modern principles of verification of the MS diagnosis, the purpose of this study was to estimate the MS morbidity in the Republic of Karelia for the period 2013-2018 on the base of the medical data of the Karelian Republican hospital V.A. Baranov’s. We found that the MS morbidity in Karelia for the mentioned period was 61.2 per 100,000 population, that corresponds to the high risk indicators of MS. Every year in Karelia, MS is diagnosed in 13-20 patients; the primary morbidity is 2.7±0.4 per 100,000 population in average, the debut age of the disease is 32.7±6.7 years in average. Such high rate of the MS morbidity in Karelia is largely related to the improvement of diagnostic technics and the implementation of modern diagnostic approaches for MS verification in health care facilities in Karelia. However, the high sensitivity to cold in patients with MS that we identified earlier supposes the influence of climatic conditions on the MS development and progression in Karelia.