Epidemiological profile of patients treated at the medical clinic for demyelinating diseases in a specialized pediatric hospital in Brasília, Brazil

Background: Pediatric demyelinating diseases can affect the optical nerves, spinal cord, brain, brainstem or cerebellum. Their clinical symptoms are associated with the location of the lesions and may be presented in a monophasic or chronic form. The study of demyelinating diseases is considered recently, as its development of therapies, especially drugs. Pediatric demyelinating diseases are even less described in the literature when compared to diseases in adults.

Objective: Identify the epidemiological profile of patients treated at the medical clinic of demyelinating diseases in a specialized pediatric hospital in Brasília, Brazil.

Methods: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study was realized based on data collection in an electronic medical record system at a specialized pediatric hospital in Brasília, Brazil.

Results: Multiple sclerosis (MS) was the most prevalent disease among patients. Females are more commonly affected, except in cases of transverse myelitis (TM) and optical neuromyelitis (NMO). The average age was 13.2 years, and the time between the first clinical manifestation and the diagnosis was 1 month. The number of relapses per patient was 2.2 relapses and neurologic disability was low, except in patients with NMO. The main treatments instituted for recurrent diseases were immunosuppression with azathioprine for patients with NMO and interferon beta for patients with MS.

Conclusions: The epidemiological profile of patients was like described in other populations. Although fingolimod is the only treatment with a proven effect in a clinical study, its use in Brazil is limited by the unavailability of the medication for the pediatric population by the unified health system (SUS).

 

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No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).

Publication History

Article published online:
18 September 2023