ArticleMultiple sclerosis and related disorders2026
High early mortality and contributing factors in seropositive neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder at a tertiary hospital in Zambia.
Article in Multiple sclerosis and related disorders, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesMortality of aquaporin-4 positive neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) in Africa is understudied. This study sought to report preliminary findings of one-year mortality among a cohort of seropositive NMOSD patients in Zambia and characterize key contributing factors.
methodsThis cross-sectional study included seropositive patients with NMOSD (via ELISA) at a tertiary care hospital in Zambia between 2019 and 2025. Demographic, clinical, treatment characteristics and mortality at one year are reported using descriptive statistics.
resultsAmong 13 seropositive NMOSD patients, the mean age at symptom onset was 33.7 years, and most were female (n = 11, 85%) and black African (n = 12, 92%). Of ten patients with at least one year of follow-up, four died within one year of symptom onset. All deceased patients were female, had at least two relapses within the first year of disease onset, and all developed longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM). Half of the deceased patients had been initiated on immunosuppression, both with rituximab. One-year mortality was higher in seropositive NMOSD as compared with multiple sclerosis and stroke in Zambia.
conclusionsHigher mortality among those with LETM, more relapses, immobility-related complications, and limited access to immunosuppression all likely contributed to the observed high early mortality among seropositive NMOSD in Zambia. Urgent action to address contributing factors is needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.