A population‐based epidemiological study of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder in Hungary

Abstract

Background The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence and incidence of NMOSD in Hungary based on the 2015 International Panel of NMO diagnosis criteria. Methods We conducted a retrospective population‐based cohort study of 6.4 million Hungarians (age≥16) between 01 January 2006 and 31 December 2016. We selected possible NMOSD patients via multistage re‐evaluation from multiple sources. Crude, sex‐, and serostatus specific prevalence (per 100,000 persons) and incidence rates (per 1,000,000 person‐years) from 2006 to 2015, and age‐adjusted rates were estimated. Results Of 2262 study candidates, we identified 154 NMOSD patients (age≥16) with onset until 31 December 2016 based on 2015 IPND criteria. The prevalence analysis on 01 January 2016 included 123 NMOSD living cases, resulting in a prevalence of 1.91 (95% CI; 1.52–2.28) per 100,000 persons. The 101 incident cases emerging from the observed 76,394,288 person‐years provided an incidence rate of 1.32 (95% CI; 1.08‐1.61) per 1,000,000 person‐years. Age‐adjusted prevalence was 1.87 (95% CI; 1.56–2.23) per 100,000 persons and incidence was 1.20 (95% CI; 0.98‐1.46) per 1,000,000 person‐years. Conclusions In this first report of a large population‐based epidemiological study from an Eastern European Caucasian population using robust case validation, we found a greater prevalence and incidence of NMOSD compared to previous large studies in Caucasian populations.