| Title: | Genetic and early life factors influence on time-to-multiple sclerosis diagnosis: A UK Biobank study |
| Journal: | Multiple Sclerosis Journal |
| Published: | 7 Jun 2024 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38847449/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1177/13524585241257205 |
| Citations: | 1 (1 in last 2 years) as of 8 Aug 2024 |
Publication 11893
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Previous investigations into multiple sclerosis (MS) risk factors predominantly relied on retrospective studies, which do not consider different follow-up times and assume a constant risk effect throughout lifetime.</p>
OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the impact of genetic and early life factors on MS diagnosis by employing a time-to-event analysis in a prospective cohort.</p>
METHODS: We used the UK Biobank data, considering the observation period from birth up to 31 December 2022. We considered genetic risk, using a multiple sclerosis polygenic risk score (MS-PRS), and various early life factors. Tobacco smoking and infectious mononucleosis diagnosis were also considered as time-varying variables along the follow-up. Using a Cox proportional hazards model, we examined the associations between these factors and MS diagnosis instantaneous risk.</p>
RESULTS: We analyzed 345,027 participants, of which 1669 had an MS diagnosis. Our analysis revealed age-dependent effects for sex (females vs males) and higher MS-PRS, with greater hazard ratios observed in young adults.</p>
CONCLUSION: The age-dependent effects suggest that retrospective studies could have underestimated sex and genetic variants' risk roles during younger ages. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of a time-to-event approach using longitudinal data to better characterize age-dependent risk effects.</p>
18 Keywords
- Adult
- Age Factors
- Aged
- Biological Specimen Banks
- Female
- Genetic Predisposition to Disease
- Humans
- Infectious Mononucleosis
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Prospective Studies
- Risk Factors
- Sex Factors
- Time Factors
- Tobacco Smoking
- UK Biobank
- United Kingdom
4 Authors
- Andrea Nova
- Giovanni Di Caprio
- Luisa Bernardinelli
- Teresa Fazia
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