Document Detail


Timing of birth and risk of multiple sclerosis: population based study.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  15585537     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
OBJECTIVES: To determine if risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with month of birth in countries in the northern hemisphere and if factors related to month of birth interact with genetic risk.
DESIGN: Population based study with population and family based controls and a retrospective cohort identified from death certificates. A post hoc pooled analysis was carried out for large northern datasets including Sweden and Denmark.
SETTING: 19 MS clinics in major cities across Canada (Canadian collaborative project on the genetic susceptibility to multiple sclerosis); incident cases of MS from a population based study in the Lothian and Border regions of Scotland; and death records from the UK Registrar General.
POPULATIONS: 17,874 Canadian patients and 11,502 British patients with multiple sclerosis.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
RESULTS: In Canada (n = 17,874) significantly fewer patients with MS were born in November compared with controls from the population census and unaffected siblings. These observations were confirmed in a dataset of British patients (n = 11, 502), in which there was also an increase in the number of births in May. A pooled analysis of datasets from Canada, Great Britain, Denmark, and Sweden (n = 42,045) showed that significantly fewer (8.5%) people with MS were born in November and significantly more (9.1%) were born in May. For recent incident data, the effect of month of birth was most evident in Scotland, where MS prevalence is the highest.
CONCLUSIONS: Month of birth and risk of MS are associated, more so in familial cases, implying interactions between genes and environment that are related to climate. Such interactions may act during gestation or shortly after birth in individuals born in the northern countries studied.
Authors:
Cristen J Willer; David A Dyment; A Dessa Sadovnick; Peter M Rothwell; T Jock Murray; George C Ebers;
Related Documents :
2683747 - Validity of death certificates for injury-related causes of death.
22860277 - The joplin tornado: recovery one year later.
15962727 - Death certification: issues from a pilot of the shipman inquiry's interim proposals.
17618747 - Accuracy of birth certificate data by risk factors and outcomes: analysis of data from ...
888917 - Paranatal influences on maternal-infant attachment.
23268157 - Risk factors associated with necrotising enterocolitis in very low birth weight infants...
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2004-12-07
Journal Detail:
Title:  BMJ (Clinical research ed.)     Volume:  330     ISSN:  1756-1833     ISO Abbreviation:  BMJ     Publication Date:  2005 Jan 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2005-01-14     Completed Date:  2005-02-03     Revised Date:  2013-04-18    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8900488     Medline TA:  BMJ     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  120     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Canada / epidemiology
Denmark / epidemiology
Environment
Great Britain / epidemiology
Humans
Multiple Sclerosis / epidemiology*,  genetics
Odds Ratio
Pedigree
Risk Factors
Seasons*
Sweden / epidemiology
Comments/Corrections

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Autoregressive modeling of analytical sensor data can yield classifiers in the predictor coefficient...
Next Document:  Cognitive behaviour therapy for adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome: randomised controlled tri...