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Cited by 60Multiple Sclerosis Research StudiesNeurology and Historical StudiesPolyomavirus and related diseases

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Epidemiology in multiple sclerosis: a pilgrim’s progress

Kurtzke, John F.·2013·Brain
DOI 10.1093/brain/awt220
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Abstract

There was more neurology taught under Harold G. Wolff at Cornell University Medical College in New York than perhaps anywhere else in the country when I attended from 1948 to 1952. I took my residency at the Veterans Administration Hospital in the Bronx, New York, a teaching hospital of Cornell, with Wolff as my Director of Training. While a resident, we thought we had found a treatment for multiple sclerosis. To test our conclusion, the first Class 1 treatment trial ever conducted for multiple sclerosis was performed. This showed no effect, but the participants began investigating multiple sclerosis among the 16 million persons at prime age for symptom onset who had served in the military in World War II. This led me to study its epidemiology worldwide, beginning with a detailed review of all published population-based estimates of frequency. Among these were nationwide surveys from Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and later Norway and Finland, which showed in each country a concentration of the significantly high regions into contiguous areas forming a single 'focus' in each land, maximal in Denmark under the age of 15 years. The primary locus of high frequency multiple sclerosis seemed to be in the south-central inland lake region of Sweden, with spread to its contiguous neighbours. These concentrations in time and space indicated that multiple sclerosis was a disease probably acquired in early adolescence. Migration studies supported this: moves from high to low showed retent…

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Metadata

Authors
Kurtzke, J. F.
Affiliations
United States Department of Veterans Affairs (US)
Corresponding author
Kurtzke, John F.
Venue
Brain
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2013-08-26
Volume
136
Issue
9
Pages
2904-2917
ISSN
  • 0006-8950 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-2156
DOI
10.1093/brain/awt220
OpenAlex
W2099658896
Cited by
60
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5
FWCI
4.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Brain (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Clinical Neurology › Multiple Sclerosis Research Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neurology and Historical Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Polyomavirus and related diseases
Keywords
multiple sclerosis, epidemiology of multiple sclerosis, geographic distribution, disease frequency, migration studies, infectious etiology, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, adolescence, treatment trials, history of neurology, Cornell University
MeSH terms
Disease Susceptibility, Europe, Humans, Multiple Sclerosis, Neurology, Global Health, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century

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