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Multiple sclerosis and chronic inflammatory diseases A case‐control study
Author(s) -
Midgard R.,
Grønning M.,
Riise T.,
Kvåle G.,
Nyland H.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1996.tb00004.x
Subject(s) - medicine , multiple sclerosis , etiology , rheumatoid arthritis , psoriasis , autoimmune disease , case control study , disease , confidence interval , immune system , immunology
– Disease associations may provide useful etiological leads in relation to diseases of unknown cause. Material and methods – We conducted a hospital‐based case‐control study of 155 MS patients and 200 controls in Hordaland County, Norway to investigate the possible association between MS and autoimmune diseases. Results – The MS patients had a statistically significant more frequent coexistence of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and goitre when compared to the controls (OR = 2.96; 95% CI 1.23–7.66). This difference persisted when analysing the definite MS cases separately (OR = 2.90; 95% CI 1.10–7.96). The familial occurrence of chronic inflammatory diseases was not significantly different in cases and controls. A significant increased risk to develop MS occurred in first degree relatives of MS patients (OR = 12.58; 95% CI 1.73–552). Conclusion – Acknowledging the low figures, the uncertain estimates with large confidence intervals, and thus the obvious role of chance in this study, the results might indicate that a generalized, genetically controlled problem of the immune system could result in aggregates of the reported diseases, all of which are partly characterized by abberrations of the immune system.