Ataxias in Brazil: 17 years of experience in an ataxia center

Ataxias no Brasil: 17 anos de experiência em um centro de ataxias

Abstract

Background  Cerebellar ataxias comprise sporadic and genetic etiologies. Ataxia may also be a presenting feature in hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSPs).

Objective  To report a descriptive analysis of the frequency of different forms of cerebellar ataxia evaluated over 17 years in the Ataxia Unit of Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil.

Methods  Charts of patients who were being followed from January 2007 to December 2023 were reviewed. We used descriptive statistics to present our results as frequencies and percentages of the overall analysis. Diagnosed patients were classified according to the following 9 groups: sporadic ataxia, spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs), other autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxias, autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxias (ARCAs), mitochondrial ataxias, congenital ataxias, X-linked ataxias, HSPs, and others.

Results  There were 1,332 patients with ataxias or spastic paraplegias. Overall, 744 (55.85%) of all cases were successfully diagnosed: 101 sporadic ataxia, 326 SCAs, 20 of other autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxias, 186 ARCAs, 6 X-linked ataxias, 2 mitochondrial ataxias, 4 congenital ataxias, and 51 HSPs.

Conclusion  This study describes the frequency of cerebellar ataxias in a large group of patients followed for the past 17 years, of whom 55% obtained a definitive clinical or molecular diagnosis. Future demographic surveys in Brazil or Latin American remain necessary.

Keywords
Ataxia; Spastic Paraplegia, Hereditary; Demography; Movement Disorders