Multiple sclerosis and mines: An epidemiologic study from Kerman province, Iran

Background and Purpose: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease determined by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Metals are suspected of being involved in MS. There is not any epidemiologic study about mines and MS. The purpose of this study was to determine MS prevalence according to mines in Kerman province.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 932 patients in Kerman province in 2012. The details of the patients including age, sex, age at the onset of disorder and disease duration were collected from documents of MS centres of Kerman and Rafsanjan Universities of Medical Science. Diagnosis was confirmed according to the revised Mc-Donald criteria. To analyze the data, SPSS-17 software and descriptive statistics and t-test were used

Results: The male/ female ratio was 1:3. The prevalence of MS in Kerman province was 31.7 per 100000. Kerman, Sirjan, Zarand and Rafsanjan had the highest prevalence of MS, respectively. The mean prevalence of MS in mineral areas in Kerman province (Kahnoj, Sirjan, Zarand, Rafsanjan, Baft, Shahrbabak) was 23.01±10.78 and in non-mineral areas (Kerman, Bam, Jiroft) was 39.56±20.34 that show the higher prevalence of MS in non-mineral areas of Kerman province.

Conclusion: Our findings showed that prevalence of MS is lower in mineral areas and probably, living in these areas isn’t a predisposing factor for MS.