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Objective: Genome-Wide association studies (GWAS) showed an association between subset of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) and multiple sclerosis. Our study aims to study this association in Saudi familial multiple sclerosis patients.Methods: Four subject groups were used in this study: sporadic MS (MS patients without family history), FMS (MS patients who have at least one family member diagnosed with MS), related controls (relatives of FMS patients who appear to be free of the disease) and independent controls (healthy volunteers). Subjects were genotyped for 15 SNPs. The variation in the genotype distribution was analyzed across study groups by using logistic regression.Results: 342 subjects were included. 99 were in the sporadic MS group, 22 were FMS, 89 were related control, and 132 were independent control. SNPS rs3135388, rs7577363, rs1321172, rs6897932, rs6498169, rs12487066, and rs4763655were associated with MS when MS and independent control groups were compared. Same SNPS were identified but with stronger association when the FMS and independent control groups were compared. Finally, when the patients and the controls were selected from a much more homogenous genetic pool from which it would be expected that only SNPs highly linked to MS would persist, only two SNPs rs6498169[OR 4.26, CI (1.17 – 15.51)];, and rs10984447 [OR 13.63, CI(1.54, 120.83) ][were associated with MS.Conclusions: Our results suggest that using a more homogenous genetic pool of cases and controls could help to identify the most significant MS-associated SNPs. Our finding is in agreement with other studies including larger sample size and more diverse populations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We evaluated 1400 randomly selected Saudi children in grades 1 through 9 to determine the prevalence of migraine and tension-type headache. Of the 1400 distributed questionnaires, 1181 (84.3%) were completed properly and so served as the basis for analysis. There were 573 boys (48.5%) and 608 girls (51.5%). Ages ranged from 6 to 18 years. Five hundred eighty-eight children (49.8%; 272 boys and 316 girls) had recurrent headache episodes not related to febrile illness in the year preceding the survey. Eighty-four children (7.1%; 37 boys and 47 girls) had recurrent episodes of migraine, and 504 (42.7%; 232 boys and 272 girls) had recurrent episodes of nonmigraine headache. For both boys and girls, the age-specific prevalence rate for nonmigraine headache rose steadily from around 15% at aged 6 to 7 years to nearly 60% after aged 15. For migraine, there was a sharp increase in the prevalence rate (from around 2% to around 9%) at aged 10 to 11, also in both boys and girls. Age-adjusted prevalence for migraine between aged 6 and 15 was 6.2%. Due to the relatively poor sensitivity of some of the IHS criteria in children, this figure may underestimate the true magnitude of migraine in the population studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental consanguinity (PC) may be a risk factor for familial multiple sclerosis (FMS) throughout inbred communities. The objective of this report was to estimate prevalence of FMS and rate of PC among FMS versus non-FMS patients. All Saudi MS patients were identified from our registry. The history of PC was analyzed as a case-control study. In total 141 MS patients were identified. Of these, 30 (21%) reported having at least one affected relative, 37.6% reported PC and 16% presented first-degree PC. In addition, FMS patients were more likely than non-FMS patients to report PC. In conclusion, FMS is prevalent among Saudi MS patients. MS patients with a history of PC were more likely to have FMS, suggesting a potential role of consanguinity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]