Research Article MS Prevalence and Patients’ Characteristics in the District of Braga, Portugal José Figueiredo, 1 Ângela Silva, 2 João J. Cerqueira, 3,4 Joaquim Fonseca, 5 and Paulo A. Pereira 6 1 Neurology Department, Hospital Privado de Braga, 4715-196 Braga, Portugal 2 Neurology Department, Hospital Senhora da Oliveira de Guimar˜ aes, 4835-044 Guimar˜ aes, Portugal 3 School of Health Sciences, Universidade do Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal 4 Neurology Department, Hospital de Braga, 4710-243 Braga, Portugal 5 Novartis Farma SA, 2740-255 Porto Salvo, Portugal 6 Department of Mathematics and Applications, Universidade do Minho, 4800-058 Guimar˜ aes, Portugal Correspondence should be addressed to Joaquim Fonseca; joaquim.fonseca@novartis.com Received 6 August 2014; Revised 22 December 2014; Accepted 23 December 2014 Academic Editor: Herbert Brok Copyright © 2015 Jos´ e Figueiredo et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease of the Central Nervous System causing infammation and neurode- generation. Tere are only 3 epidemiological studies in Portugal, 2 in the Centre and 1 in the North, and there is the need to further study MS epidemiology in this country. Te objective of this work is to contribute to the MS epidemiological knowledge in Portugal, describing the patients’ epidemiological, demographic, and clinical characteristics in the Braga district of Portugal. Tis is a cross-sectional study of 345 patients followed in two hospitals of Braga district. Tese hospitals cover a resident population of 866,012 inhabitants. Te data was collected from the clinical records, and 31/12/2009 was established as the prevalence day. For all MS patients, demographic characteristics and clinical outcomes are reported. We have found an incidence of 2.74/100,000 and a prevalence of 39.82/100,000 inhabitants. Most patients have an EDSS of 3 or lower and a mean age of 42 years. Te diagnosis was done at mean age of 35, with RRMS being the disease type in more than 80% of patients. In this cohort, we found a female : male ratio of 1.79. More than 50% of patients are treated with Interferon -1b IM or IFN-1a SC 22 g. 1. Introduction Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease of the Central Nervous System (CNS) causing infammation and neurodegeneration. Te characteristic demyelination of the neurons, followed in many cases by axonal loss and gliosis, results in incapacity progression [1]. Te incapacity status is usually assessed in MS patients with the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) [2]. Diferent types of MS have been described based on the clinical course: Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS), Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (SPMS), Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (PPMS), Relapsing-Progressing Multiple Sclerosis (RPMS) [3] and Clinically Isolated Syndrome (CIS) [4]. Tere is yet no cure for MS, but several disease modifying treatments have shown to have benefcial efects on the dis- ease progression. Te approved treatments for MS in Europe include Interferon -1a SC and IM, Interferon -1b SC, Glati- ramer Acetate SC, Natalizumab IV, oral Fingolimod, oral Di- methyl Fumarate, oral Terifunomide, and Alemtuzumab IV. MS has a great social and economic impact, because it afects mainly young adults [5], who will be more prone to unemployment [6] and in a big percentage will need a walk- ing aid few years afer the disease onset [7, 8]. MS is more prevalent in females [9] and Caucasians [10] and it is infuen- ced by the geographic localization (Multiple Sclerosis Inter- national Federation). Hindawi Publishing Corporation Neurology Research International Volume 2015, Article ID 895163, 4 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/895163