Smoking and multiple sclerosis: an updated meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a leading cause of disability in young adults. Susceptibility to MS is determined by environmental exposure on the background of genetic risk factors. A previous meta-analysis suggested that smoking was an important risk factor for MS but many other studies have been published since then.

Methods/principal findings

We performed a Medline search to identify articles published that investigated MS risk following cigarette smoking. A total of 14 articles were included in this study. This represented data on 3,052 cases and 457,619 controls. We analysed these studies in both a conservative (limiting our analysis to only those where smoking behaviour was described prior to disease onset) and non-conservative manner. Our results show that smok

SUBMITTER: Handel AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3020969 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature