Multiple sclerosis in China—history and future

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is considered rare in China and reports on MS in the English literature are few. METHODS: A systematic literature search for articles with MS was made, particularly for papers published in the Chinese medical journals from mainland China. RESULTS: In China, the first case of MS was described in the medical records from Xiehe hospital in 1926, and the first autopsy case of MS was reported from Huashan hospital in 1957. Although reports on MS based on the information from hospital case-series have been increased gradually in the recent decades, there is no national surveillance on MS frequency in the population and population-based surveys on MS were few in China. Generally for Chinese patients with MS the mean age at onset of MS is around 30 years, with a few cases younger than 20 years; the most frequent site of the lesions in the central nervous system, based on the clinical symptoms or signs, is the spinal cord (usually more than 60%); there are few patients with a family history of MS; almost all patients are treated with corticosteroids. Reported prevalence rates of MS from population surveys in China are rather low (1-2 per 100,000) and higher in females than in males, which are comparable with the results from other populations in Asia. CONCLUSION: The clinical and epidemiological aspects of MS in China are, in general, similar to that from other populations in Asia. Epidemiological studies and national surveillance on MS are required in China.