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Nationwide prevalence of primary dystonia, progressive ataxia and hereditary spastic paraplegia

Hellberg, Clara LU ; Alinder, Erik ; Jaraj, Daniel and Puschmann, Andreas LU orcid (2019) In Parkinsonism and Related Disorders 69. p.79-84
Abstract

Objective: To determine the nationwide prevalence of primary dystonia, ataxia and hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) in Sweden. Methods: We extracted data on all patients who were registered in The National Patient Register (NPR) in Sweden (population 9.64 million) at least twice during five consecutive years with a diagnosis of primary dystonia, ataxia or HSP. We excluded patients with an additional diagnosis possibly indicating secondary causes, and determined the proportion of wrongly diagnosed patients at our own tertiary center by patient examination or chart review. We analyzed patients’ age and disorder subtypes, geographical distribution of patients within Sweden and the country of birth of all patients. Results: Nationwide, we... (More)

Objective: To determine the nationwide prevalence of primary dystonia, ataxia and hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) in Sweden. Methods: We extracted data on all patients who were registered in The National Patient Register (NPR) in Sweden (population 9.64 million) at least twice during five consecutive years with a diagnosis of primary dystonia, ataxia or HSP. We excluded patients with an additional diagnosis possibly indicating secondary causes, and determined the proportion of wrongly diagnosed patients at our own tertiary center by patient examination or chart review. We analyzed patients’ age and disorder subtypes, geographical distribution of patients within Sweden and the country of birth of all patients. Results: Nationwide, we identified 4239 patients (31.6% male) with a diagnosis of primary dystonia. Of 347 patients with dystonia at our center, 20.2% may have had a different final diagnosis. Extrapolation of this uncertainty rate to the national population resulted in a prevalence for primary dystonia of 35.1/100,000. There were 672 patients (49.6% male) with ataxia in NPR, and the diagnostic uncertainty rate among 81 patients in our center was 13.6% (prevalence 6.0/100,000). HSP was diagnosed in 235 patients nationwide (52.3% male, prevalence 2.4/100,000). Patients were distributed relatively evenly throughout the country. The proportions of patients with these diagnoses who were born outside of Sweden were lower (8.0–12.7%) than the proportion of all Swedish residents born abroad (15.9%). Conclusions: In this large, nationwide study, the prevalence of dystonia was high compared to previous studies, which partly may be explained by the high coverage of NPR.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Ataxia, Dystonia, Hereditary spastic paraplegia, Prevalence
in
Parkinsonism and Related Disorders
volume
69
pages
6 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:31706130
  • scopus:85074533334
ISSN
1353-8020
DOI
10.1016/j.parkreldis.2019.10.028
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
582f06bd-5337-49a4-8b41-4e4c1cbfdebd
date added to LUP
2019-11-15 13:35:33
date last changed
2024-08-07 09:34:03
@article{582f06bd-5337-49a4-8b41-4e4c1cbfdebd,
  abstract     = {{<p>Objective: To determine the nationwide prevalence of primary dystonia, ataxia and hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) in Sweden. Methods: We extracted data on all patients who were registered in The National Patient Register (NPR) in Sweden (population 9.64 million) at least twice during five consecutive years with a diagnosis of primary dystonia, ataxia or HSP. We excluded patients with an additional diagnosis possibly indicating secondary causes, and determined the proportion of wrongly diagnosed patients at our own tertiary center by patient examination or chart review. We analyzed patients’ age and disorder subtypes, geographical distribution of patients within Sweden and the country of birth of all patients. Results: Nationwide, we identified 4239 patients (31.6% male) with a diagnosis of primary dystonia. Of 347 patients with dystonia at our center, 20.2% may have had a different final diagnosis. Extrapolation of this uncertainty rate to the national population resulted in a prevalence for primary dystonia of 35.1/100,000. There were 672 patients (49.6% male) with ataxia in NPR, and the diagnostic uncertainty rate among 81 patients in our center was 13.6% (prevalence 6.0/100,000). HSP was diagnosed in 235 patients nationwide (52.3% male, prevalence 2.4/100,000). Patients were distributed relatively evenly throughout the country. The proportions of patients with these diagnoses who were born outside of Sweden were lower (8.0–12.7%) than the proportion of all Swedish residents born abroad (15.9%). Conclusions: In this large, nationwide study, the prevalence of dystonia was high compared to previous studies, which partly may be explained by the high coverage of NPR.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hellberg, Clara and Alinder, Erik and Jaraj, Daniel and Puschmann, Andreas}},
  issn         = {{1353-8020}},
  keywords     = {{Ataxia; Dystonia; Hereditary spastic paraplegia; Prevalence}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{79--84}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Parkinsonism and Related Disorders}},
  title        = {{Nationwide prevalence of primary dystonia, progressive ataxia and hereditary spastic paraplegia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.parkreldis.2019.10.028}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.parkreldis.2019.10.028}},
  volume       = {{69}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}