Premium
Geographical distribution of A seropositive myasthenia gravis population
Author(s) -
Heldal Anne Taraldsen,
Eide Geir Egil,
Gilhus Nils Erik,
Romi Fredrik
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
muscle and nerve
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1097-4598
pISSN - 0148-639X
DOI - 10.1002/mus.23271
Subject(s) - incidence (geometry) , myasthenia gravis , poisson regression , demography , epidemiology , population , medicine , immunology , environmental health , physics , sociology , optics
To assess age‐ and sex‐specific myasthenia gravis (MG) occurrence and incidence in the different geographical regions in Norway and thereby to identify factors that may contribute to the development of MG. Methods: Multiple Poisson regression analysis was used to assess variation in incidence dependent on year, gender and onset age in five geographically defined health regions. Results: The study population comprised 419 individuals with first time seropositive tests from 1995 to 2007. Annual MG incidence ranged from < 1 to 14 per million, with an average of 7.04 per million for all five health regions combined. Conclusions: This is the first nation‐wide epidemiological study of seropositive MG that elucidates the geographical differences within a country. The incidence of seropositive MG did not vary significantly between the regions. Mid‐Norway tended to have a higher incidence, and North tended to have a lower incidence. Muscle Nerve 45: 815–819, 2012