The Number of Adults with Multiple Sclerosis in the U.S.

During the past two decades, researchers estimated that approximately 400,000 patients in the U.S. were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). The current research group aimed to update this estimate by using 2008–2010 data from private and governmental administrative health claims and pharmacy datasets. After testing, they employed the optimal algorithm for identifying patients, which required at least three MS-related hospitalizations, outpatient visits, or disease-modifying prescriptions within a 1-year period. When this diagnostic algorithm was applied to a Canadian general population, sensitivity was 96%, and specificity was 99%.

The U.S. prevalence of MS in 2010, as cumulated over 10 years, was 309.2 per 100,000, representing 727,344 …