Iran: population waist

Iran's demographic waist explains some of the increase in MS in the country. #MSBlog #MSResearch

"In response to a question I received yesterday about the population waist in Iran. The following picture shows you the population demographics of Iran. As you can see there is a waist of young people driven by an increase in birth rates after the Iranian revolution. As MS typically presents between the ages of 20-40 as the 'waist' enters this age group you will see an increased number of cases presenting with MS regardless of whether or not the MS incidence is increasing or not. In fact when you account for this waist entering the at risk period of MS the incidence is going up; driven largely by MS in woman. Another fact that the Iranian MS epidemic slays is the contribution of smoking to this surge in MS in woman. Some epidemiologists suggest that 40-50% of the increased incidence of MS in woman can be explained by increased smoking rates in woman after the second world war. In Iran less that 7% or woman smoke. What is happening in Iran? I am sure the clue to the cause of MS is to be found in Iran. Despite this it is very hard if not impossible to get funding to study MS in Iran; the west has too many sanctions against the country."


"Please note the population demographics of the UK; there is no obvious waist, but its profile is worrying in that there are so many ageing people without enough young people to support them. This is called the demographic time-bomb; if you think the UK is bad you should look at Japan and China."  


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