Rare-disease researchers face unique obstacles: Minoryx

29-Mar-2021 By Jenni Spinner A representative of the rare-disease specialist firm outlines the unique obstacles of orphan CNS disease research, and how professionals can overcome them.

Mapa epidemiológico transversal de las ataxias y paraparesias espásticas hereditarias en EspañaEpidemiology of ataxia and hereditary spastic paraplegia in Spain: a cross-sectional study

G. Ortega Suero, M.J. Abenza Abildúa, C. Serrano Munuera, I. Rouco Axpe, F.J. Arpa Gutiérrez, A.D. Adarmes Gómez, F.J. Rodríguez de Rivera, B. Quintans Castro, I. Posada Rodríguez, A. Vadillo Bermejo, Á. Domingo Santos, E. Blanco Vicente, I. Infante Ceberio, J. Pardo Fernández, E. Costa Arpín, C. Painous Martí, J.E. Muñoz, P. Mir Rivera, F. Montón Álvarez, L. Bataller Alberola, J. Gascón Bayarri, C. Casasnovas Pons, V. Vélez Santamaría, A. López Munain, G. Fernández García Eulate, J. Gazulla Abío, I. Sanz Gallego, L. Rojas Bartolomé, Ó. Ayo Martín, T. Segura Martín, C. González Mingot, M. Baraldés Rovira, R. Sivera Mascaró, E. Cubo Delgado, A. Echevarría Íñiguez, F. Vázquez Sánchez, M. Bártulos Iglesias, M.T. Casadevall Codina, E.M. Martínez Fernández, C. Labandeira Guerra, B. Alemany Perna, A. Carvajal Hernández, C. Fernández Moreno, M. Palacín Larroy, N. Caballol Pons, A. Ávila Rivera, F.J. Navacerrada Barrero, R. Lobato Rodríguez, M.J. Sobrido Gómez; Neurología, 2021, doi:10.1016/j.nrl.2021.01.006. 

 We conducted a cross-sectional, multicentre, retrospective, descriptive study of patients with ataxia and hereditary spastic paraplegia in Spain between March 2018 and December 2019. Mean (SD) age in our sample was 53.64 (20.51) years; 920 patients were men (50.8%) and 889 were women (49.2%). The genetic defect was unidentified in 920 patients (47.6%). A total of 1371 patients (70.9%) had ataxia and 562 (29.1%) had hereditary spastic paraplegia. Prevalence rates for ataxia and hereditary spastic paraplegia were estimated at 5.48 and 2.24 cases per 100 000 population, respectively. The most frequent type of dominant ataxia in our sample was SCA3, and the most frequent recessive ataxia was Friedreich ataxia.