Young onset multiple sclerosis

Introduction. Young onset multiple sclerosis is an infrequent situation which may present,with atypical symptoms, and uncertain outcome. Objective. Our aim was to assess the clinical presentation and course in yound onset multiple sclerosis, and analyze eventual data which might be helpfull in establishing its prognosis. Patients and methods, We have retrospectively reviewed the clinical protocols of I 17 patients with young onset multiple sclerosis, defined as presentation of symptoms before 21 years. Diagnosis was made according to Poser's criteria including clinical feature es, magnetic, resonance imaging, cerebrospinal fluid findings, and evoked potentials. Results. The mean age at onset was 16.9+/-4.4 and,median time to diagnosis was four weeks. The clinical course,se was relapsing-remitting bl 76.5% and secondary,progressive in 23.5% The men, annual exacerbation rate was 1.5+/-0.9 and median time to second exacerbation was 12 months. The actual Expanded, Disability Stanrs Scale score is 2. 6+/-2 after a mean disease duration of 11.4+/-8.0years. The correlation between the Expanded Disability Status Scale scole and the,mean disease duration was the only statistically significant result. Conclusions. These results are similar to other studies, namely age at onset did not correlate with final neurological disability However, we must emphasize, that the primary progressive form was found in our study. We conclude that in young onset multiple sclerosis , progression is not dependent on the age of onset and does not necessarily lend to an unfavorable outcome [REY NEUROL 1999; 28: 1036-40].