MS study results released

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About 25 Bureau County residents took part in a recent study on multiple sclerosis, and the results were released this week.

The study sought to determine whether multiple sclerosis prevalence is elevated in a 13-county region of Northwest Illinois; whether MS prevalence varies within the study area; and whether certain individual or community factors appear to be associated with elevated prevalence. MS results when the immune system attacks myelin, the protective insulation surrounding nerve fibers of the central nervous system affecting coordination, balance and vision.

Of the approximately one million people who live in the 13-county area, 772 responded. Joel Cowen, assistant dean for Health Systems Research at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Rockford, said Tuesday they’re not sure exactly how many people in the area could have responded.

“That is the key question,” he said. “We don’t know, and we don’t know nationally.”

Cowen said the government no longer collects that information, but the last study, which took place 15 years ago, indicated about 85 per 100,000 people have MS, and many groups believe the number is closer to 100. If accurate, that means about 85 to 90 percent of all eligible residents responded in this study, a fairly high response rate.

“I think we did well,” Cowen said.

Cowen said enough people responded to allow them to determine the characteristics of an individual with MS.

Such a person is more likely to be a woman, almost certainly white and non-Hispanic. More than one in five people with MS has a close relative with MS, and 94.3 percent of the participants had at least one northern European ancestor.

In terms of the age of participants, the median year born was 1956 for a current 2009 age of 53. Median year diagnosed was 1998, so the “average” participant was 42 at the time of diagnosis.

“These are younger people in their prime, actively working and raising families,” Cowen said.

Cowen said they are fairly confident of the accuracy of those statistics, but he said the study might be incomplete in terms of rates of MS in communities.

The study showed the county with the highest prevalence was Jo Daviess, with a rate of 135 people with MS for every 100,000 residents. Bureau County’s rate was 68.7 per 100,000, or about 25 people.

The data was also broken down by zip codes. Some zip codes with small populations showed high rates, such as Lee County’s Compton with 855.9 per 100,000 and Paw Paw, with 396.5. Tiskilwa was ninth on the list with a rate of 213.4 per 100,000, but Cowen said Tiskilwa residents shouldn’t be alarmed by the high rate. Since MS can run in families, everyone with MS in one community might be members of the same family.

Overall, the results indicated significant relationships between MS prevalence and German ancestry, white, non-Hispanic race/ethnic classification, and farming and the agricultural industry. Cowen said the connection with agriculture and farming doesn’t necessarily mean agriculture causes MS, but he said the question merits additional study.

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