[Patients with multiple sclerosis among the Lódź population. I. Verification of the diagnosis and clinical characteristics].

Home-treated patients with multiple sclerosis who 5-6 years earlier had sought medical advice in neurological health service institutions were examined. Their age was to 46 years; they came from the population of the City Lódź. Slightly over half of them (53%) were patients whose disease had begun at the age of 20-29 years. In 18% of cases the duration of the disease exceeded 14 years. In 60% of cases the disease had a remitting course, in 83% of them multifocal involvement of the nervous system was present. In nearly all cases (97%) pyramidal tract involvement was present, and in 59% the optic nerves were involved. Females prevailed in this group (75%); the proportion of patients aged 40-46 years was higher among the females. In males the onset of the disease before the age of 30 years was significantly more frequent, while in females the proportion of cases beginning at the age of 30-39 years was significantly greater. Among patients aged up to 40 years registered within one year by the neurologists as certain or suspected cases of multiple sclerosis (independently of the duration of the disease) about 7% patients died in a period of 5.7 years on average (10.5% males and 5.3% females). These observations suggest a different onset or course of the disease in both sexes in this population.