It is long known that HTLV-1 can affect both central and peripheral nervous system leading to progressive demyelination motor neuron axons. HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM-TSP) isthemajor HTLV-I-associated diseases. HTLV-1-infected carriers are also at risk of HTLV-1-associated diseases. Therefore, in this study we aimed to systematically review the literatures in which the prevalence of polyneuropathy had been investigated in patient with HAM-TSP as well as in HTLV-1 carriers. A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus and Google scholar using following search strategy(((polyneuropathy OR neuropathy OR neurologic disease OR myelopathy OR neuronal injury)) AND (human T-cell lymphotropic virus 1- associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis OR HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis OR HAMTSP OR HTLV-1 carriers) AND (frequency OR prevalence OR incidence) to study the prevalence of polyneuropathy in patient with HAM-TSP as well as in HTLV-1 carriers on December 2015.Then, after collecting relevant documents, the data were extracted and analyzed. Of total 801collected documents in PubMed, Scopus, and Google scholar, only 11 eligible articles with overall 1443 studied populations were selected and analyzed. The results showed that the incidence of neurological diseases, especially peripheral neuropathy and myopathy is rather high in patients with HAM/TSP and asymptomatic carriers. The results of articles included in this literature review showed that HTLV-1 resulted in the incidence or exacerbation of various forms of neuropathy.
