Biomaterial Database

Multiple sclerosis among Spanish-surnamed Californians. 1978

J E Enstrom, and E A Operskalski

The 2,500,000 Spanish-surnamed white Californians have an age-adjusted multiple sclerosis death rate of 0.27 per 100,000 based on 48 MS deaths from 1966 through 1975. This compares with a rate of 0.83 for other white Californians and 0.75 for all Californians, suggesting that the MS death rate in California is due to genetic or local environmental causes. However, the 620,000 foreign-born Spanish-surnamed white Califorians have the extremely low MS death rate of 0.07, which is one-sixth the rate of 0.42 for the 1.330,000 Spanish-surnamed whites born in California. These data, by contrast with the first set, seem to indicate that environmental factors associated with place of birth are of primary importance. These findings suggest that Spanish-Americans as a whole have an MS death rate that is among the lowest of all subpopulation in the United States and that they offer additional opportunities for studying the etiology of multiple sclerosis.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D009103	Multiple Sclerosis	An autoimmune disorder mainly affecting young adults and characterized by destruction of myelin in the central nervous system. Pathologic findings include multiple sharply demarcated areas of demyelination throughout the white matter of the central nervous system. Clinical manifestations include visual loss, extra-ocular movement disorders, paresthesias, loss of sensation, weakness, dysarthria, spasticity, ataxia, and bladder dysfunction. The usual pattern is one of recurrent attacks followed by partial recovery (see MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, RELAPSING-REMITTING), but acute fulminating and chronic progressive forms (see MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, CHRONIC PROGRESSIVE) also occur. (Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p903)	MS (Multiple Sclerosis),Multiple Sclerosis, Acute Fulminating,Sclerosis, Disseminated,Disseminated Sclerosis,Sclerosis, Multiple
D002140	California	State bounded on the east by Nevada and Arizona, on the south by Mexico and the Pacific Ocean on the south and west, and on the north by Oregon.
D005260	Female		Females
D006630	Hispanic or Latino	A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/1997/10/30/97-28653/revisions-to-the-standards-for-the-classification-of-federal-data-on-race-and-ethnicity). In the United States it is used for classification of federal government data on race and ethnicity. Race and ethnicity terms are self-identified social construct and may include terms outdated and offensive in MeSH to assist users who are interested in retrieving comprehensive search results for studies such as in longitudinal studies.	Cuban Americans,Hispanic Americans,Latin Americans, US,Latinas,Latinos,Latinx,Puerto Ricans,Spanish Americans,Hispanics,American, Hispanic,American, US Latin,Cuban American,Hispanic American,Hispanic or Latinos,Latin American, US,Latina,Latino,Puerto Rican,Spanish American,US Latin American,US Latin Americans
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man