Association Between the Multiple Sclerosis Epidemic and Socioeconomic Status in Iran: A Descriptiveanalytical Cross-sectional Study

Background: multiple sclerosis (ms) is a key neurogenic cause of disability among young populations. assessing the parameters affecting ms severity is vital to reduce the disease burden. objective: this study aims to determine the relationship between socioeconomic status (ses) and ms severity among young iranian adults. methods: a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 180 patients (142 females and 38 males) with ms selected by non-probability and consecutive sampling from september 2018 to 2019. the socio-demographic and primary clinical data were collected by a self-developed questionnaire and face-to-face interviews, respectively. the expanded disability status scale (edss) was used to assess the physical disability and overall neurological function of patients. findings: the mean age of patients and ms onset were 27.54 and 35.58 years, respectively. the majority of the patients were married (68.3%) and lived in cities (74.4%). the mean values of unemployment, homeownership, and monthly income were 54.4%, 71.7%, and 11078330 irr, respectively. the mean edss was 2.80±1.79 points. a weak positive correlation was found between edss and the age of the patient (p=0.001, r=0.246) and the number of children (p=0.001, r=0.250). there was no significant difference between edss and ses factors (i.e. disease onset age, treatment cost, and monthly income). conclusion: as ses was not related to ms severity, there is no need to take special treatment measures in patients with poor ses.