Exposure to passive smoking during adolescence is associated with an increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

  • Ditte Bang Oturai
  • Helle Bach Søndergaard
  • Nils Koch-Henriksen
  • Christina Andersen
  • Julie Hejgaard Laursen
  • Stefan Gustavsen
  • Joachim Tilsted Kristensen
  • Melinda Magyari
  • Sørensen, Per Soelberg
  • Sellebjerg, Finn Thorup
  • Lise Wegner Thørner
  • Henrik Ullum
  • Annette Bang Oturai

Background: Environmental factors are associated with acquiring multiple sclerosis (MS) particularly in adolescence. Objective: To test for association between MS and exposure to passive smoking at the age of 10–19. Methods: A total of 919 patients from the Danish MS Registry and Biobank and 3419 healthy blood donors who had not smoked before the age of 19 were targeted. We analyzed separately for each sex and for those never-smokers (cohort 1) and active smokers above the age of 19 (cohort 2). All participants completed standardized questionnaires about smoking and lifestyle. We matched cases and controls in the ratio of 1:2 by propensity scores discarding unmatchable individuals and used logistic regression adjusted for all covariates and interactions. Results: After matching, we included 110/213 male cases/controls and 232/377 female case/controls in cohort 1. In cohort 2, the numbers were 160/320 and 417/760, respectively. Among women in cohort 1, the odds ratio (OR) for MS by passive smoking at the age of 10–19 was 1.432 (p = 0.037) but in men it was 1.232 (p = 0.39). Among men in cohort 2, OR was 1.593 (p = 0.022) but among women it was only 1.102 (p = 0.44). Conclusion: Among never smokers, female MS cases were more often than female controls reported with passive smoking between the age of 10 and 19, and among smokers above the age of 19, male MS patients were more often than male controls reported with passive smoking.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftMultiple Sclerosis Journal
Vol/bind27
Udgave nummer2
Sider (fra-til)188-197
Antal sider10
ISSN1352-4585
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2021

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
We thank the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm for permission to translate and use the Genetic and Environment in Multiple Sclerosis (GEMS) questionnaire. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by grants from the Danish Multiple Sclerosis Society (A-19376), the Danish Council for Strategic Research (Grant No. 2142-08-0039), Novartis, Biogen (Denmark), the Sofus Carl Emil Friis og Hustru Olga Doris Friis foundation, the Foundation for Research in Neurology, and the Director Einar Jonasson (Johnsen) and Wife foundation.

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by grants from the Danish Multiple Sclerosis Society (A-19376), the Danish Council for Strategic Research (Grant No. 2142-08-0039), Novartis, Biogen (Denmark), the Sofus Carl Emil Friis og Hustru Olga Doris Friis foundation, the Foundation for Research in Neurology, and the Director Einar Jonasson (Johnsen) and Wife foundation.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2020.

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