An epidemiological study of motor neuron disease in Hong Kong

Abstract

Worldwide, the incidence of motor neuron disease (MND) has been increasing steadily over recent decades. We reported a follow-up epidemiology study of MND in this locality. We identified the subjects from the computer database of the government hospital system between 1 January 1997 and 31 January 2002 by searching the ICD code starting from 335.xx. Every retrieved case or their records were reviewed and validated by neurologist(s) of the responsible regional hospitals which the patients attended. One hundred and twenty cases from seven regional hospitals (serving 48.05% of the HKSAR population) were identified, validated and confirmed to be MND or related diseases. Ninety-eight new cases were diagnosed during the study period. Average age of onset was 58.76 years; SD 14.12 (28-89) years. Male to female ratio was 1.72:1. Peak age of onset was 60-64 years without sex difference. The adjusted incidence rate was 0.60/100,000/year. The adjusted point prevalence at the prevalence date (31 January 2001) was 3.04/100,000. Despite the incidence and prevalence of MND among Hong Kong Chinese, it remained low compared to worldwide figures, and our data suggested a significant rise of MND or related disease in the last decade. A territory-wide prospective epidemiological study is indicated.

Using the Capture-Recapture Method to Estimate the Incidence of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Beijing, China

“…The incidence of ALS was 0.77 cases per 100,000 person-years (95% CI 0.71–0.83). The incidence rate in the present study is similar to the rates reported by several recent studies across East Asia [5], Hong Kong [9], Taiwan [10] and Russia [11] (Table 2). On the other hand, studies across Europe and the United States tend to report a higher incidence.…”

Prevalence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the city of Porto Alegre, in Southern Brazil

“…The estimated prevalence in our study was close to the prevalence reported for the city of Jefferson in the USA (3.9/100,000) 13 , in Modena, Italy (4.02/100,000) 8 , in the Republic of Ireland (4.7/100,000) 14 , in Ontario, Canada (4.9/100,000) 15 and in southeast England (4.91/100,000) 16 . On the other hand, our estimated prevalence is higher than the prevalence of ALS reported in Isfahan, Iran (1.57/100,000) 17 , in Uruguay (1.9/100,000) 11 and in Hong Kong, China (3.04/100,000) 18 , and lower than the prevalence of ALS reported in Italy (7.89/100,000) 19 and in the Netherlands (10.32/100,000) 9 . In our analysis of the results by gender, we found a hi gher prevalence of ALS for men (5.2/100,000) compared to wo men (4.8/100,000).…”

Epidemiology and Medical Expenses of Motor Neuron Diseases in Taiwan

“…This limitation was not only inevitable in this study, which depended on the NHI research database, but also reflected a real-world phenomenon. Similar limitations also existed in the epidemiological study of MND by Fong et al [12] in Hong Kong, which used ICD-9 diagnostic criteria.…”

“…The average incidence of MND was 0.31 per 100,000/year in Hong Kong Chinese between 1989 and 1992 [13] and 160 increased to 0.60 per 100,000/year during 1997-2002 [12] . The crude incidence rate of sporadic MND from 1980 to 1989 was 0.69 per 100,000/year on Japan's Hokkaido island [15] .…”

“…Aside from cluster areas of MND in the Kii peninsula of Japan and Guam [8][9][10][11] , only a few epidemiological studies of MND have been carried out in Asia [12][13][14][15] . The average incidence of MND was 0.31 per 100,000/year in Hong Kong Chinese between 1989 and 1992 [13] and 160 increased to 0.60 per 100,000/year during 1997-2002 [12] .…”