Seasonality of admissions with multiple sclerosis in Scotland.

Journal article

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:   Previous studies have described a seasonal pattern of MS relapse risk. Vitamin D and infectious triggers are two major candidate environmental risk factors proposed to account for this effect. We aimed to assess MS admissions in Scotland for a possible effect of seasonality. METHODS:   Acute admissions with MS were obtained from the Scottish Morbidity Register between 1997 and 2009. We compared the pattern of these to admissions with other diagnoses. RESULTS:   We obtained data on 7098 MS and 6 243 690 non-MS acute and day-case admissions. We found a significant difference in acute MS admissions compared with admissions with other diagnoses (P = 0.0015). There was a significant excess of Scottish MS admissions in April and June with nadirs in March and October. CONCLUSIONS:   Admissions with MS show a significant seasonal variation throughout the year. Further work will be needed to identify candidate environmental factors with certainty.

Authors: Handel, A; Disanto, G; Jarvis, L; McLaughlin, R; Fries, A

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: European journal of neurology : the official journal of the European Federation of Neurological Societies
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 1109-1111
• Publication date: 2011-08-01
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-1331.2010.03318.x
• EISSN: 1468-1331
• ISSN: 1351-5101
• Language: English
• Keywords: Retrospective Studies; Humans; Scotland; Multiple Sclerosis; Risk Factors; Seasons; Registries; Climate; Sunlight; Patient Admission; Environment; Temperature; Risk Assessment