Table 1

Frequencies and proportions of patients with MS and controls at year of MS diagnosis, stratified by sociodemographics

	MS		Controls
	N	Per cent	n	Per cent
Age groups
24–34	934	25.3	4383	23.8
35–44	1161	31.5	5952	32.3
45–59	1590	43.1	8090	43.9
Sex
Men	1114	30.2	5438	29.5
Women	2571	69.8	12 987	70.5
Born in Sweden*
Yes	3303	89.6	16 180	87.8
No	382	10.4	2245	12.2
Married or cohabiting
Yes	2060	55.9	10 317	56.0
No	1625	44.1	8108	44.0
Living with children
Yes	1841	50.0	9161	49.7
No	1844	50.0	9264	50.3
Educational level†
High school or less	2307	62.6	11 232	61.0
University	1378	37.4	7193	39.0
Type of living area
Larger cities	1404	38.1	6899	37.4
Medium-sized municipalities	1289	35.0	6430	34.9
Smaller municipalities	992	26.9	5096	27.7
Geographic region
East	1483	40.2	7631	41.4
South/West	1529	41.5	7104	38.6
North	673	18.3	3690	20.0
Panel
2003	1084	29.4	5420	29.4
2004	956	25.9	4780	25.9
2005	883	24.0	4415	24.0
2006	762	20.7	3810	20.7
All	3685	100.0	18 425	100.0

*The category not born in Sweden includes <10 individuals with missing country of birth.
†The category high school or less includes 156 individuals with missing educational level.
MS, multiple sclerosis.