MS is significantly associated with the prevalence of multiple sclerosis: a meta-analysis.
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2011 Apr 8. [Epub ahead of print]
Simpson S Jr, Blizzard L, Otahal P, Van der Mei I, Taylor B.
Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
Background There is a striking latitudinal gradient in multiple sclerosis (MS) prevalence, but exceptions in Mediterranean Europe and northern Scandinavia, and some systematic reviews, have suggested that the gradient may be an artefact. The authors sought to evaluate the association between MS prevalence and latitude by meta-regression.
Methods and findings Studies were sourced from online databases, reference mining and author referral. Prevalence estimates were age-standardised to the 2009 European population. Analyses were carried out by means of random-effects meta-regression, weighted with the inverse of within-study variance. The authors included 650 prevalence estimates from 321 peer-reviewed studies; 239 were age-standardised, and 159 provided sex-specific data.
The authors found a significant positive association (change in prevalence per degree-latitude) between age-standardised prevalence (1.04, p<0.001) and latitude that diminished at high latitudes.
Adjustment for prevalence year strengthened the association with latitude (2.60, p<0.001). An inverse gradient in the Italian region reversed on adjustment for MS-associated HLA-DRB1 allele distributions. Adjustment for HLA-DRB1 allele frequencies did not appreciably alter the gradient in Europe. Adjustment for some potential sources of bias did not affect the observed associations.
Conclusion This, the most comprehensive review of MS prevalence to date, has confirmed a statistically significant positive association between MS prevalence and latitude globally. Exceptions to the gradient in the Italian region and northern Scandinavia are likely a result of genetic and behavioural-cultural variations.
The persistence of a positive gradient in Europe after adjustment for HLA-DRB1 allele frequencies strongly supports a role for environmental factors which vary with latitude, the most prominent candidates being ultraviolet radiation (UVR)/vitamin D.
PMID: 21478203
See also Vitamin D Life
Items in both categories MS and Far From Equator are listed here:
- Multiple Sclerosis incidence is still associated with latitude – Nov 2019
- Multiple Sclerosis incidence varies with latitude (noted in Brazil too) – Nov 2015
- Multiple Sclerosis rates are highest in Canada (far from equator) – May 2018
- Multiple Sclerosis 2X more likely if low winter UV – June 2018
- Why has the MS latitude gradient disappeared – Oct 2011
- MS is related to latitude – conclusion from 321 studies – April 2011
- MS onset 2 years earlier in northern latitudes – June 2010