Prevalence of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder in Colombia: Analysis of the official Ministry of Health administrative registry

Background: Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is a rare entity with severe inflammatory demyelinating events of the central nervous system with debilitating sequelae. Its global prevalence ranges between 0.5 and 4/100,000 individuals, with variations by region and ethnicity. Latin America lacks epidemiological data on the disease, and Colombian prevalence is unknown. Objective: Prevalence of NMOSD in Colombia was estimated between 2017 and 2021 using the official Ministry of Health administrative database (SISPRO). Methods: This is an observational, cross-sectional retrospective study, using data between January 2017 and December 2021 in the SISPRO database using the International Classification of Disease code for NMOSD G36.0. Prevalence by gender, age and geographic distribution was estimated using official government statistics for 2019. World Health Organization (WHO) standard population was used to adjust using the direct method. Results: 2,650 patients were diagnosed with NMOSD; the average age was 44.9 years with an overall unadjusted prevalence of 5.3/100,000 individuals, higher for females (7.8) than for males (2.8). No significant changes (from 5.3 to 5.4) were seen after adjusting to the WHO standard. Conclusion: According to this study Colombia has one of the highest prevalence rates of NMOSD in Latin America, further studies are needed to elucidate the contributing factors.