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<title>UTas ePrints - Regional variation in multiple sclerosis prevalence in Australia and its association with ambient ultraviolet radiation</title>
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<meta content="van der Mei, I.A.F." name="eprints.creators_name" />
<meta content="Ponsonby, A-L." name="eprints.creators_name" />
<meta content="Blizzard, Leigh" name="eprints.creators_name" />
<meta content="Dwyer, T." name="eprints.creators_name" />
<meta content="Ingrid.vanderMei@utas.edu.au" name="eprints.creators_id" />
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<meta content="2007-04-04" name="eprints.datestamp" />
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<meta content="Regional variation in multiple sclerosis prevalence in Australia and its association with ambient ultraviolet radiation" name="eprints.title" />
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<meta content="321202" name="eprints.subjects" />
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<meta content="Multiple Sclerosis, prevalence, photoimmunology, ultraviolet radiation, vitamin D3" name="eprints.keywords" />
<meta content="The aim of this study was to conduct an ecological analysis of the extent to which ultraviolet radiation (UVR) levels might explain the regional variation of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in Australia. MS prevalence data for six Australian regions were compared with UVR levels of the largest city in each region, with some other climatic variables and with the melanoma incidence in the same regions. A close association was found between the theoretical MS prevalence predicted from UVR levels and the actual prevalence. Furthermore, the negative correlation between UVR and MS prevalence (r=-0.91, P=0.01) was higher than the positive correlation observed for UVR and malignant melanoma incidence (r=0.75, P=0.15 for males and r=0.80, P=0.10 for females). This study demonstrated that the regional variation in MS prevalence in the continent of Australia could be closely predicted by regional UVR levels. It is consistent with the hypothesis that UVR exposure may reduce the risk of MS possibly via T lymphocyte-mediated immunosuppression. Analytical epidemiology studies are required to investigate this specific hypothesis." name="eprints.abstract" />
<meta content="2001" name="eprints.date" />
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<meta content="Neuroepidemiology" name="eprints.publication" />
<meta content="20" name="eprints.volume" />
<meta content="168-174" name="eprints.pagerange" />
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<meta content="1 Ewing C, Barnard CCA: Insights into the aetiology and pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Immunol Cell Biol 1998;76:47-54.
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37 Steckley JL, Dyment DA, Sadonvnick AD, Risch N, Hayes C, Ebers GC: Genetic analysis of vitamin D related genes in Canadian multiple sclerosis patients. Canadian Collaborative Study Group. Neurology 2000;54(3):729-732.
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44 Elwood JM, Jopson J: Melanoma and sun exposure: an overview of published studies. Int J Cancer 1997;73:198-203.
45 Freedman DM, Dosemeci M, Alavanja MCR: Mortality from multiple sclerosis and exposure to residential and occupational solar radiation: a case-control study based on death certificates. Occup Environ Med 2000;57:418-421.
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<meta content="The aim of this study was to conduct an ecological analysis of the extent to which ultraviolet radiation (UVR) levels might explain the regional variation of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in Australia. MS prevalence data for six Australian regions were compared with UVR levels of the largest city in each region, with some other climatic variables and with the melanoma incidence in the same regions. A close association was found between the theoretical MS prevalence predicted from UVR levels and the actual prevalence. Furthermore, the negative correlation between UVR and MS prevalence (r=-0.91, P=0.01) was higher than the positive correlation observed for UVR and malignant melanoma incidence (r=0.75, P=0.15 for males and r=0.80, P=0.10 for females). This study demonstrated that the regional variation in MS prevalence in the continent of Australia could be closely predicted by regional UVR levels. It is consistent with the hypothesis that UVR exposure may reduce the risk of MS possibly via T lymphocyte-mediated immunosuppression. Analytical epidemiology studies are required to investigate this specific hypothesis." name="DC.description" />
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<h1 class="ep_tm_pagetitle">Regional variation in multiple sclerosis prevalence in Australia and its association with ambient ultraviolet radiation</h1>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"><span class="person_name">van der Mei, I.A.F.</span> and <span class="person_name">Ponsonby, A-L.</span> and <span class="person_name">Blizzard, Leigh</span> and <span class="person_name">Dwyer, T.</span> (2001) <xhtml:em>Regional variation in multiple sclerosis prevalence in Australia and its association with ambient ultraviolet radiation.</xhtml:em> Neuroepidemiology, 20 . pp. 168-174.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"></p><table style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block"><tr><td valign="top" style="text-align:center"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/889/1/van_der_Mei_Neuroepidemiol_2001.pdf"><img alt="[img]" src="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png" class="ep_doc_icon" border="0" /></a></td><td valign="top"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/889/1/van_der_Mei_Neuroepidemiol_2001.pdf"><span class="ep_document_citation">PDF</span></a> - Full text restricted - Requires a PDF viewer<br />579Kb</td></tr></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1em" class="not_ep_block">Official URL: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000054783">http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000054783</a></p><div class="not_ep_block"><h2>Abstract</h2><p style="padding-bottom: 16px; text-align: left; margin: 1em auto 0em auto">The aim of this study was to conduct an ecological analysis of the extent to which ultraviolet radiation (UVR) levels might explain the regional variation of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in Australia. MS prevalence data for six Australian regions were compared with UVR levels of the largest city in each region, with some other climatic variables and with the melanoma incidence in the same regions. A close association was found between the theoretical MS prevalence predicted from UVR levels and the actual prevalence. Furthermore, the negative correlation between UVR and MS prevalence (r=-0.91, P=0.01) was higher than the positive correlation observed for UVR and malignant melanoma incidence (r=0.75, P=0.15 for males and r=0.80, P=0.10 for females). This study demonstrated that the regional variation in MS prevalence in the continent of Australia could be closely predicted by regional UVR levels. It is consistent with the hypothesis that UVR exposure may reduce the risk of MS possibly via T lymphocyte-mediated immunosuppression. Analytical epidemiology studies are required to investigate this specific hypothesis.</p></div><table style="margin-bottom: 1em" cellpadding="3" class="not_ep_block" border="0"><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Item Type:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">Article</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Keywords:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">Multiple Sclerosis, prevalence, photoimmunology, ultraviolet radiation, vitamin D3</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Subjects:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/view/subjects/321202.html">320000 Medical and Health Sciences > 321200 Public Health and Health Services > 321202 Epidemiology</a></td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">ID Code:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">889</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Deposited By:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><span class="ep_name_citation"><span class="person_name">Dr Ingrid A F van der Mei</span></span></td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Deposited On:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">04 Apr 2007</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">Last Modified:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row">09 Jan 2008 02:30</td></tr><tr><th valign="top" class="ep_row">ePrint Statistics:</th><td valign="top" class="ep_row"><a target="ePrintStats" href="/es/index.php?action=show_detail_eprint;id=889;">View statistics for this ePrint</a></td></tr></table><p align="right">Repository Staff Only: <a href="http://eprints.utas.edu.au/cgi/users/home?screen=EPrint::View&eprintid=889">item control page</a></p>
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