Multiple Sclerosis: secondary care data

Table 1 shows the number of hospital admissions (episodes) in Scotland between 2000 and 2006, together with the number of patients who were admitted to hospital at least once during the year. Figures are shown separately for cases where multiple sclerosis (MS) was the principal diagnosis and where it was only mentioned as an additional diagnosis. There does not appear to be any clear trend, other than the slight fall in numbers in 2006, which may relate to problems with data completeness. It is likely that most people with a suspected diagnosis of MS are seen by a neurologist, but not all cases are admitted to hospital for investigation. Hospital data are therefore likely to underestimate true prevalence and incidence because many people with multiple sclerosis are treated in primary care or as outpatients. These figures should be compared with estimates of prevalence from surveys, which suggest that there are around 10,000 people with multiple sclerosis in Scotland.

Table 1. Numbers of hospital episodes and patients admitted with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (ICD10 G35), Scotland, 2000-2006. (Source ISD, SMR01 scheme, last updated March 2007)

	MS principal diagnosis (1)		MS any diagnostic position (2)
	Episodes	Patients	Episodes	Patients
2000	2,914	1,357	5,363	2,283
2001	3,003	1,376	5,500	2,280
2002	2,961	1,322	5,571	2,242
2003	3,265	1,335	5,810	2,294
2004	2,810	1,213	5,554	2,251
2005	2,712	1,210	5,451	2,300
2006	2,143	1,008	4,614	2,078

(1) Episodes / patients where multiple sclerosis is the principal diagnosis.
(2) Episodes / patients where multiple sclerosis is mentioned in any diagnostic position.