MS prevalence in New Zealand, an ethnically and latitudinally diverse country

Taylor, Bruce; Pearson, John; Clarke, Glynnis; Mason, Deborah; Abernethy, David; Willoughby, Ernie; Sabel, Clive E.

doi:10.1177/1352458510379614

Cited by 91 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The gradient is now well established as a true MS geo-epidemiological association, with MS prevalence increasing from very low levels near the equator of 5-10 per 100,000 to levels around 200 per 100,000 population at latitude 59° N, an increase of more than 20 fold. 1,9 A similar gradient has been found for first episodes of central nervous system…”

Section: Latitude Sunlight Exposure (Uvr) and Vitamin D (Odds Ratiosupporting

confidence: 52%

The major cause of multiple sclerosis is environmental: genetics has a minor role - Yes

Taylor¹

2011

Mult Scler

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Section: Latitude Sunlight Exposure (Uvr) and Vitamin D (Odds Ratiosupporting

confidence: 52%

The major cause of multiple sclerosis is environmental: genetics has a minor role - Yes

Taylor¹

2011

Mult Scler

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“…For example, it has been argued that the mother's food intake and nutritional status may affect the child's outcome in future life, including the likelihood of developing MS 22 . Gradients of MS prevalence have been observed in New Zealand 23 and Central and South America 24 . However, at least in South America, the month of birth cannot be considered to be as significant for MS prevalence as it seems to be in Northern hemisphere populations.…”

Section: A B Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over 40 researchers from four countries added their data in order to obtain the results presented here. In some areas of South America, the prevalence of MS is as low as 1.5/100,000 24 , and many areas of the continent do not even have prevalence studies. For well-powered confirmation of the null hypothesis in the present study, tens of thousands of patients would be necessary.…”

Section: A B Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple sclerosis in South America: month of birth in different latitudes does not seem to interfere with the prevalence or progression of the disease

Fragoso

Adoni

Almeida

et al. 2013

Arq. Neuro-Psiquiatr.

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Objective To assess whether the month of birth in different latitudes of South America might influence the presence or severity of multiple sclerosis (MS) later in life. Methods Neurologists in four South American countries working at MS units collected data on their patients' month of birth, gender, age, and disease progression. Results Analysis of data from 1207 MS patients and 1207 control subjects did not show any significant variation in the month of birth regarding the prevalence of MS in four latitude bands (0–10; 11–20; 21–30; and 31–40 degrees). There was no relationship between the month of birth and the severity of disease in each latitude band. Conclusion The results from this study show that MS patients born to mothers who were pregnant at different Southern latitudes do not follow the seasonal pattern observed at high Northern latitudes.

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“…3 Within regions of temperate climate, MS incidence and prevalence are thought to increase with latitude. 3,4 The latitudinal trend starts around 42 degrees of latitude North. 5 A cutoff at this latitude implicates solar wavelengths in the shorter UV range (ultraviolet B [UVB]) as UVB is strongly affected by the solar zenith angle.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship of UV exposure to prevalence of multiple sclerosis in England

Ramagopalan¹,

Handel²,

Giovannoni³

et al. 2011

Neurology

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Objective: To assess the potential relationship of ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) exposure in explaining the period prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) in England. Methods: English national Hospital Episode Statistics covering all admissions to National HealthService hospitals in England in the 7 years from 1998 to 2005 were used to obtain the period prevalences of MS and infectious mononucleosis (IM) in England. The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration's data on UVB intensity for England from the Nimbus 7 satellite was collected. The relationships among the 3 variables (MS prevalence, IM prevalence, and UVB intensity) were investigated. Results:The regression of MS against UVB intensity for all seasons had an r 2 of 0.61; when including the interaction of IM with seasonal UVB, the r 2 rose to 0.72. Conclusions:UVB exposure and IM together can explain a substantial proportion of the variance of MS. The effect of UVB on generating vitamin D seems the most likely candidate for explaining its relationship with MS. There is a pressing need to investigate the role of vitamin D and EBV and how they might interact to influence MS risk to identify potential prevention strategies. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common disease of the CNS in young adults of Northern European descent. 1 MS seems unlikely to result from a single causative event; instead, the disease seems to develop in genetically susceptible populations as a result of environmental exposures. 2The most striking illustration of the importance of the environment in MS is its geographical distribution.3 Within regions of temperate climate, MS incidence and prevalence are thought to increase with latitude.3,4 The latitudinal trend starts around 42 degrees of latitude North.5 A cutoff at this latitude implicates solar wavelengths in the shorter UV range (ultraviolet B [UVB]) as UVB is strongly affected by the solar zenith angle.6 There is also a month of birth effect for MS, 7 which is also indicative of solar-correlated processes, and this effect is itself strongly latitude-dependent.We have recently reported period prevalence values for MS across England. 8 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a B-lymphotropic human DNA herpesvirus that infects most individuals asymptomatically but in some people causes infectious mononucleosis (IM) upon infection.9 Because the risk of MS is increased in individuals with a clinical history of IM, [10][11][12] we also compared the geography of MS with the distribution of IM, and observed a strong correlation, but this was From the

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MS prevalence in New Zealand, an ethnically and latitudinally diverse country

Cited by 91 publications

References 28 publications

The major cause of multiple sclerosis is environmental: genetics has a minor role - Yes

The major cause of multiple sclerosis is environmental: genetics has a minor role - Yes

Multiple sclerosis in South America: month of birth in different latitudes does not seem to interfere with the prevalence or progression of the disease

Relationship of UV exposure to prevalence of multiple sclerosis in England

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