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The epidemiology of neuromyelitis optica amongst adults in the Merseyside county of United Kingdom

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Abstract

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an uncommon, demyelinating disease that causes long-term disability in adults. Though much has recently been learned about its pathogenesis, there are still only a few studies regarding the epidemiology of NMO. The aim of the study was to describe the epidemiology of NMO among adults in the Merseyside county of the United kingdom. Multiple overlapping sources of data were used including hospital records of The Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Liverpool, regional district general hospital data, central Aquaporin-4 antibody testing laboratory data and the British Neurological Surveillance Unit- to identify adults with a first-ever-in-a-lifetime diagnosis of NMO. As of December 31, 2010, there were eight cases (five NMO; three NMO spectrum disorder), indicating a prevalence of 7.2/million (95 % CI 3.1–14.2). Four incident cases of NMO and three incident cases of NMO spectrum disorder were identified in this period, indicating a minimum combined average annual incidence rate of 0.8/million (95 % CI 0.3–1.6). NMO still remains an uncommon condition, but the prevalence is rising with early diagnosis.

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Acknowledgments

The National NMO Service in The United Kingdom (www.nmouk.nhs.uk) is funded by the NHS through the National Specialised Commissioning Group. We are grateful to colleagues providing the diagnostic AQP4-Ab assay at John Radcliffe Hospital (Prof. Angela Vincent, Drs. Patrick Waters, Mark Woodhall, and Isabel Liete). We are grateful to Prof. Tom Solomon (Department of Neurosciences, University of Liverpool and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine), Drs. Jackie Palace, Jo Kitley, Jithin George (John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford), and Consultant Neurologists at the Walton Centre and across UK, The ABN and British Neurological Surveillance Unit.

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None.

Ethical standard

Ethics approval was obtained from Multicentre Research Ethics Committee (MREC 02/8/082).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Lower Lane, Liverpool, L9 7LJ, UK

    Anu Jacob, Jay Panicker, Liene Elsone, Kerry Mutch, Martin Wilson & Kumar Das

  2. CRUK Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit, University of Liverpool, Block C, Waterhouse Building, 1-3 Brownlow Street, Liverpool, L69 3GL, UK

    Daniel Lythgoe

  3. The Townsville Hospital, 100 Angus Smith Drive, Townsville, QLD, 4814, Australia

    Mike Boggild

Authors
  1. Anu Jacob
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  2. Jay Panicker
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  3. Daniel Lythgoe
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  4. Liene Elsone
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  5. Kerry Mutch
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  6. Martin Wilson
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  7. Kumar Das
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  8. Mike Boggild
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Correspondence to Jay Panicker.

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Jacob, A., Panicker, J., Lythgoe, D. et al. The epidemiology of neuromyelitis optica amongst adults in the Merseyside county of United Kingdom. J Neurol 260, 2134–2137 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-013-6926-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-013-6926-y

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