Does the season or month of birth influence disease progression in multiple sclerosis?
We investigated the influence of season and birth month on sustained progression to Expanded Disability Status Scale 6 (requires a cane) through a database review of 2,319 definite multiple sclerosis (MS) patients followed for a mean 19.3 years, until July 2003 in British Columbia, Canada. The season of birth had a marginal effect on disease progression (p = 0.051), with winter babies exhibiting the slowest progression (p = 0.048). Birth month had a significant effect on progression (p = 0.038), mainly due to those January born having a 40% (95% CI 32.9-47.4) chance of requiring a cane later than those born in other months. There was some evidence to suggest that the gestational period had a small but long-lasting effect on later disease progression in British Columbia, Canada.
Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. tremlett@interchange.ubc.ca
Helen L
HL
Tremlett
Virginia A
VA
Devonshire
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001955:British Columbia; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020528:Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Progressive / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D012621:Seasons; D016019:Survival Analysis