Parental smoking at home and the risk of childhood-onset multiple sclerosis in children
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Medical Update Memo
September 19, 2007
Summary
A group of researchers in France have evaluated the risk of developing MS when exposed to passive smoke in a large group of children. They found that parental smoking at home increased the risk of occurrence of MS which was also dependent on duration of exposure.
Details
The possibility of a link between active smoking and incident multiple sclerosis (MS) has been raised. However, possible links between incidence of MS and passive smoking, particularly in children, have not been analysed. The authors conducted a population-based, case-control study. The cases were patients with incident MS occurring between 1994 and 2003, before the age of 16 years, in France. Each case was matched for age, sex and geographic origin with 12 controls, randomly selected from the French general population. Information about the smoking history of the parents of the cases and controls was collected with a standardized questionnaire. The 129 cases of MS were matched with 1038 controls. Information about parental smoking was obtained for all these cases and controls. Exposure to parental smoking was noted in 62% of cases and 45% of controls. Stratification for age showed that this increase in risk was significantly associated with the longer duration of exposure in older cases than in younger cases. Children exposed to parent smoking have a higher MS risk. The duration of exposure also affects the level of risk. This study was published in the September 7, 2007 issue of Brain.
ASK MS Information System Code: 2.2.12.d
Disponible en français.
Disclaimer
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada is an independent, voluntary health
agency and does not approve, endorse or recommend any specific product or therapy, but provides information to assist individuals in making their own
decisions.
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