Multiple Sclerosis risk a decade later was 2X higher if low vitamin D (12 ng vs 20 ng)

Created September 2017

25-Hydroxyvitamin D deficiency and risk of MS among women in the Finnish Maternity Cohort

Neurology Journal online Sept 13, 2017, http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000004489

Kassandra L. Munger, ScD, Kira Hongell, MD, Julia Åivo, MD, Merja Soilu-Hänninen, MD, PhD, Heljä-Marja Surcel, PhD and Alberto Ascherio, MD, DrPH

Correspondence to Dr. Munger: kgorham@hsph.harvard.edu

Clearly low vitamin D is a possible cause for MS, not the other way around * Multiple sclerosis patients have 15 ng lower levels of vitamin D – meta-analysis June 2014 * Vitamin D has already cleared 100 percent of lesions from over 1,000 MS patients in Brazil * Risk of going from pre-MS to MS reduced 68 percent with 7100 IU vitamin D – RCT Dec 2012 * Multiple Sclerosis and Vitamin D ~ 50,000 Facebook members in 13 languages – Jan 2017 * Multiple Sclerosis 2X more likely if vitamin D deficient as a fetus decades earlier – May 2016 * Multiple Sclerosis prevention by Vitamin D: 10 year, 30 million dollar trial - Sept 2013 * Multiple Sclerosis more likely if poor vitamin D genes - 22nd study – Aug 2017 * Most of the genes result in less Vitamin D getting to cells, which can be often by taking more Vitamin D * 98 pcnt of genes that Vitamin D activates to reduce MS are also activated by Interferon -May 2013 * MS prevention by UV is 2X better than prevention by vitamin D levels – Jan 2012 * Multiple Sclerosis 6X more likely to progress quickly if low vitamin D – Aug 2016

Objective: To determine whether and to what extent vitamin D deficiency is associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) risk.

Methods: We conducted a prospective nested case-control study among women in the Finnish Maternity Cohort (FMC). The FMC had 1.8 million stored serum samples taken during the pregnancies of over 800,000 women at the time of this study. Through linkages with hospital and prescription registries, we identified 1,092 women with MS diagnosed between 1983 and 2009 with at least 1 serum sample collected prior to date of MS diagnosis; ≥2 serum samples were available for 511 cases. Cases were matched to up to 3 controls (n = 2,123) on date of birth (±2 years) and area of residence. 25-Hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels were measured using a chemiluminescence assay. We used conditional logistic regression adjusted for year of sample collection, gravidity, and parity to estimate relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results: A 50 nmol/L increase in 25(OH)D was associated with a 39% reduced risk of MS (RR 0.61, 95% CI 0.44–0.85), p = 0.003. Women with 25(OH)D levels <30 nmol/L had a 43% higher MS risk (RR 1.43, 95% CI 1.02–1.99, p = 0.04) as compared to women with levels ≥50 nmol/L. In women with ≥2 samples, MS risk was 2-fold higher in women with 25(OH)D <30 nmol/L as compared to women with 25(OH)D ≥50 nmol/L (RR 2.02 , 95% CI 1.18–3.45, p = 0.01).

Conclusions: These results directly support vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for MS and strengthen the rationale for broad public health interventions to improve vitamin D levels.

Publisher wants $39 for the PDF

📄 Download the PDF from SciHub via VitaminDWiki

Finland Recommended Vitamin D during Pregnancy

Vitamin D Council review of this study

Tags: Multiple Sclerosis