Countries’ health spending may explain the relationship between multiple sclerosis and latitude – Benin Actu

PARIS, August 29 (Benin News) –

Researchers have found that people who live further from the equator are more likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS), and have often attributed this to vitamin D exposure. But countries further from the equator are also more likely of being richer than the countries closest to the equator. .

A new analysis shows that the amount a country spends on health care may help explain the relationship between multiple sclerosis and latitude, its authors publish online in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. .

According to study author Deanna Saylor, MD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the results suggest that MS rates may be grossly underestimated in low-income countries with lower health care costs. meaning that people have less access to neurologists with the expertise to diagnose MS and the MRIs needed to make the diagnosis.

For this analysis, the researchers analyzed data from scientific studies and databases to determine current rates of MS in 203 countries and territories. They then grouped these countries into world regions and by income level.

MS fees vary by region and income level. For example, in high-income countries, an average of 46 people out of 100,000 had MS, compared to 10 out of 100,000 in low-income countries. Per capita health spending was $2,805 (about €2,805) in high-income countries, compared to $45 (€44.8) in low-income countries.

For each location, the researchers looked at gross domestic product per capita, current health care spending per capita, income levels, the availability of brain scans to diagnose MS, the number of neurologists per capita, and universal health care. They also looked at lifestyle factors, such as obesity and smoking.

After adjusting the data for other factors that may influence MS risk, such as age and gender, they found that health care spending and latitude were strongly associated with MS rates.

Research has shown that for every one standard deviation increase in health spending per capita, the prevalence of MS in a country increases by 0.49. On the other hand, for every standard deviation that latitude increases, the prevalence of MS in a country increases by 0.65.

They also found that health care spending explained some, but not all, of the relationship between latitude and MS. After adjusting for other factors, the relationship between latitude and MS decreased by more than 20% when per capita health spending was taken into account.

The availability of universal health care was associated with higher rates of MS in all world regions except Southeast Asia, where universal health care was associated with higher rates of MS.

In high-income countries, MS rates were related to most factors, including gross domestic product per capita, current health spending per capita, and number of neurologists, but not to smoking and obesity or with the number of magnetic resonance units per inhabitant. However, in low-income countries no association was seen with any of these factors, which could be explained by the lack of significant variation in the data from these countries, says Saylor.

According to Saylor, the fact that current health spending per capita is strongly related to national MS rates supports the hypothesis that greater investment in health care results in stronger reporting of MS rates.

It also notes that the minimal links between MS rates and lifestyle factors, such as smoking and obesity, run counter to previous hypotheses that lifestyle and drinking behaviors largely explain regional differences in reported ME rates.

Saylor cautions that strategies are urgently needed to reduce the shortage of trained professionals and critical technologies that prevent accurate assessment of the burden of MS in low-income countries.

It also warns that the current low rates of MS reported in these countries may obscure the need to educate medical providers about MS and limit investment in improving diagnosis and treatment in areas where scarce resources are often allocated to diseases considered more common.