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John Neuberger, MBA, MPH, DrPH, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Kansas School of Medicine, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Mail Stop 1008, Kansas City, KS 66160, 913-588-2745, jneuberg@kumc.edu, William R. Schmidt, MPH, unknown, 5400 Cherry St, Kansas City, MO 64110, Marla Sutton, Continuing Education, University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Mail Stop 1008, Kansas City, KS 66160, Sharon Lynch, MD, Department of Neurology, University of Kansas School of Medicine, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Kansas City, KS, KS 66160, Changyong Feng, PhD, Department of Biostatistics, University of Rochester, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 630, Rochester, NY 14642, and Sandra Hall, PhD, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Kansas, Mail Stop 1008, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Kansas City, KS 66160.
A prevalence study for multiple sclerosis (MS) was conducted in Sugar Creek and Independence, Missouri. The concern was that pollution from a closed oil refinery would have contributed to an excess of this disease in the local population. The time period used for prevalence was 1998-2001. Cases were largely obtained from the office of area neurologists and from hospital discharge data. Population data was obtained from the year 2000 U.S. Census. Data were abstracted from office records onto a standardized report form. A consulting neurologist reviewed the form and a final diagnosis was assigned. The direct age-adjusted prevalence “rate” for both sexes and all races for the entire study area was 113 per 100,000 (95% CI = 93 to 136). For whites only the “rate” was 123 per 100,000 (95% CI = 102 to 147). The rate for this area was generally consistent with rates in other areas. The rate for females exceeded that for males. There were too few minority populations present in this geographic area to calculate rates for that group. Using an indirect method of age adjustment the number of observed cases in Sugar Creek were not statistically significantly increased over the number of cases expected (SMR = 130.8, 95% CI = 62.3 to 199.3). The study did not measure MS prevalence among those exposed to the refinery but who subsequently moved away. Recommendations include the need for a follow-up case-control study to further understand the etiology of MS in this population.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Toxicants, Vulnerable Populations
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.