Multiple sclerosis (MS) has a strong racial and ethnic component and disproportionately affects whites of European background. Recent incidence reports suggest an increasing rate of MS among African Americans compared with whites. Despite this recent increase in MS in African Americans, Hispanics and Asians are significantly less likely to develop MS than whites of European ancestry. MS-specific mortality trends demonstrate distinctive disparities by race/ethnicity and age, suggesting that there is an unequal burden of disease. Inequalities in health along with differences in clinical characteristics that may be genetic, environmental, and social in origin may be contributing to disease variability and be suggestive of endophenotypes. The overarching goal of this review was to summarize the current understanding on the variability of disease that we observe in selected racial and ethnic populations: Hispanics and African Americans. Future challenges will be to unravel the genetic, environmental, and social determinants of the observed racial/ethnic disparities.

中文翻译：

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MS 表现和病程中的种族和民族

多发性硬化症 (MS) 具有强烈的种族和民族成分，并且不成比例地影响欧洲背景的白人。最近的发病率报告表明，与白人相比，非裔美国人的 MS 发病率有所增加。尽管最近非裔美国人的 MS 有所增加，但西班牙裔和亚洲人患 MS 的可能性明显低于欧洲血统的白人。MS 特定的死亡率趋势显示出种族/族裔和年龄的明显差异，表明疾病负担不均。健康方面的不平等以及可能是遗传、环境和社会起源的临床特征差异可能导致疾病变异并暗示内表型。本综述的首要目标是总结当前对我们在选定种族和族裔人群中观察到的疾病变异性的理解：西班牙裔和非裔美国人。未来的挑战将是解开所观察到的种族/民族差异的遗传、环境和社会决定因素。