Risk for MS (multiple sclerosis) 30% higher for those living in cities, study finds
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2020/05/22/Risk-for-MS-30-higher-for-those-living-in-cities-study-finds/4001590169593/?sl=1
http://archive.is/x7AAm
City-dwellers are nearly 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis than those living in more rural areas, a study presented Friday at the European Academy of Neurology Virtual Congress has found.
Based on the results, which will also be published in European Journal of Neurology, air pollution could be a risk factor for the development of the disease, according to the authors, who conducted their research in Italy.
"It is well recognized that immune diseases such as MS are associated with multiple factors, both genetic and environmental," co-author Dr. Roberto Bergamaschi, of the IRCCS Mondino Foundation in Pavia, Italy, said in a statement.
"We believe that air pollution interacts through several mechanisms in the development of MS and the results of this study strengthen that hypothesis," he added.
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For their study, Bergamaschi and his colleagues reviewed data on more than 900 people with MS in the Lombardy region of northwestern Italy. The area is home to nearly 550,000 people.
In general, MS rates in the region have increased 10-fold in the past 50 years, from 16 cases per 100,000 residents in 1974 to almost 170 cases per 100,000 residents in 2020, the researchers found. In addition, they compared three different areas within the region based on their levels of "urbanization."
Two of the areas were found to be above the European Commission's threshold for air pollution as determined by levels of pollutants known as particulate matter, or PM, a term used to describe a mixture of solid particles and droplets in the air.
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