Report suggests smoking increases MS progression

[MSUK]

Patients with multiple sclerosis who smoke appear to experience a more rapid progression of their disease, according to a report in the Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Cigarette smokers are at higher risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to background information in the article. However, the effect of smoking on the progression of MS remains uncertain.

Brian C. Healy, Ph.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues studied 1,465 patients with MS who visited a referral center between February 2006 and August 2007. Participants had an average age of 42 and had MS for an average of 9.4 years. Their progression was assessed by clinical characteristics as well as by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) over an average of 3.29 years....Read More -
http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/2873

[amber]

I dont think the research on this is correct
My great aunt the PP type of ms and she never smoked, ever.
My great uncle often said she developed it after a car accident.
So would the association of ms be associated with the many that do have it have had a (head injury need it be minor or a concussion etc.)
There are many hypothisis but I think maybe just maybe there might be an association on that one because when we are even kids the lot of us have been hit in the head.
Enviroment I think may be another.

[NHE]

Hi Amber,

I dont think the research on this is correct
My great aunt the PP type of ms and she never smoked, ever.

I believe that the article was stating that smoking was found to make MS worse, not that it caused MS.

NHE