AIMS: To conduct the first nationwide population-based epidemiologic study on cerebellar ataxia in Taiwan. METHODS: Cerebellar ataxia cases were identified from the National Health Insurance Research Database by using the corresponding International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes, from January 2005 to December 2007. Age- and sex-specific incidences were estimated by dividing the number of new cases by the population data. RESULTS: During the study, 934 cases were identified (average annual incidence: 0.91/100,000). No significant difference was noted in the incidence in men and women. The majority of the patients were middle-aged or elderly. CONCLUSION: The average annual incidence rate of cerebellar ataxia in Taiwan was 0.91/100,000, without a significant difference between the genders.
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