Scottish Multiple Sclerosis Register (SMSR)
Figures from January to December 2021

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides information from the Scottish Multiple Sclerosis Register (SMSR) on all patients with a confirmed diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) from January 2010 to December 2021. Additional COVID-19 test and vaccination data were collected from 1 January 2021 until 31 December 2021.

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Main points

• In 2021, 578 new patients with a confirmed diagnosis of MS were added to the SMSR. This brings the total number of patients newly diagnosed and reported over the twelve-year period to 5,878.
• In line with previous findings, the annual incidence shows over twice as many females than males were diagnosed with MS.

Figure 1 shows the comparison of the National Clinical Standard (percentage of patients contacted by a MS specialist nurse within 10 working days, following confirmed diagnosis) to the percentage of patients contacted within 10 working days following the MS specialist nurse receiving the referral. In 2021, 88.2% of patients were contacted by an MS specialist nurse within 10 working days following confirmed diagnosis; 99% of patients were contacted by an MS specialist nurse within 10 working days following the MS specialist nurse receiving the referral.

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Percentage of people with a new diagnosis of MS contacted by a MS specialist nurse within 10 days of confirmed diagnosis Vs percentage contacted within 10 days from receipt of referral. 1

1   These figures exclude paediatric patients (12), patients that have refused contact with MS specialist nurses (33) and cases for which we hold a missing year of the patient's diagnosis (4) over the period 2010-2021.

• The proportion of newly diagnosed patients receiving contact with a MS specialist nurse within 10 working days of diagnosis, increased from 85.4% in 2020 to 88.2% in 2021.
• Once a referral was received by the MS specialist nurse, 99% of patients were contacted within 10 working days, slightly less than 99.6% last year.
• COVID-19 test and vaccination data were collated from January 2021 – December 2021. There were 10,277 PCR tests carried out on SMSR patients, resulting in 837 positive results.
• As at 31 December 2021, 87.8% of people with MS reported in the SMSR had received their second COVID-19 vaccine and 76.4% had also received their third primary or booster.

The figure shows the uptake of the first, second and third doses of the covid vaccine throughout 2021. The left y-axis shows the number of patients which received a vaccine, and the right y-axis shows uptake as a percentage of the SMSR population. There was a sharp uptake of the first dose of the vaccine between February-April 2021; of the second dose between April-June 2021; and of the third/booster dose between October-December 2021. As of 31st December 2021, around 90% of the SMSR population had received first and second doses of the vaccine; and nearly 80% had received a third/booster dose.

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Cumulative COVID-19 vaccine uptake over time for SMSR patients

Background

The Scottish MS Register is a national register within the Scottish National Audit Programme at Public Health Scotland. The aim of the SMSR is to improve healthcare for people living with MS in Scotland. Establishing the incidence and interpreting the implications of its demography allows us to facilitate service evaluation and drive health improvement. The data on which this report is produced are provided by neurologists and MS clinical teams via Redcap (an electronic data collection system), which incorporates the patient journey from referral to diagnosis, including referral to a MS specialist nurse.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be July 2023.