RESEARCH ARTICLE


Urban/Rural Differences in Hospital Admissions with Multiple Sclerosis in Selected Counties in Ohio 1999-2004



Sadik A. Khuder*, 1, Melissa Foos1, Nabeel A. Herial§, 1, Anand B. Mutgi§, 1, Basil S. Khuder§, 1, Rose Jung§, 2
1 College of Medicine, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA
2 College of Pharmacy, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2009
Volume: 2
First Page: 51
Last Page: 54
Publisher Id: TOEPIJ-2-51
DOI: 10.2174/1874297100902010051

Article History:

Received Date: 19/11/2008
Revision Received Date: 02/03/2009
Acceptance Date: 05/03/2009
Electronic publication date: 29/5/2009
Collection year: 2009

© 2009Khuder et al..

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the College of Medicine, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA;Tel: 419-383-4089; Fax: 419-383-6244; E-mail: sadik.khuder@utoledo.edu


Abstract

Context:

Regional differences in the prevalence of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) have been reported with higher rates in rural areas.

Purpose:

Using hospital admission data from eight counties in Ohio (1999 to 2004), we described the pattern of admissions for MS patients and examined the rural/urban differences.

Methods:

Adjusted admission rate ratios (ARR) for rural regions were calculated using Poisson regression models.

Findings:

The estimated admission rate was 70 per 100,000 in 1999 and increased to 90 per 100,000 in 2004 (p<0.0001). A significant association between degree of urbanization and MS admission rates was found with higher rate in rural area (ARR=1.23, 95% CI 1.17-1.35) and in female (ARR=2.45, 95% CI 2.37-2.54).

Conclusions:

Admission rate for MS is increasing and rural residence is associated with higher hospitalization rate.

Keywords: Multiple Sclerosis, hospital admission, urban, rural.