TY - JOUR
T1 - Month of birth, vitamin D and risk of immune-mediated disease
T2 - A case control study
AU - Disanto, Giulio
AU - Chaplin, George
AU - Morahan, Julia M.
AU - Giovannoni, Gavin
AU - Hyppönen, Elina
AU - Ebers, George C.
AU - Ramagopalan, Sreeram V.
N1 - Funding Information:
United Kingdom, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada Scientific Research Foundation. SVR receives research support from the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada Scientific Research Foundation and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of the United Kingdom. GC reports no competing interests. All authors have no relationships with companies that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; their spouses, partners, or children have no financial relationships that may be relevant to the submitted work; and have no non-financial interests that may be relevant to the submitted work.
Funding Information:
This work was funded by a research fellowship FISM-Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla-Cod.: 2010/B/5; the Medical Research Council (GRANT NUMBER G0801976) and the Wellcome Trust (090532/Z/09/Z). The study sponsors had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript. All authors state that this research was carried out independently of the influence of funding bodies.
PY - 2012/7/6
Y1 - 2012/7/6
N2 - Background: A season of birth effect in immune-mediated diseases (ID) such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes has been consistently reported. We aimed to investigate whether season of birth influences the risk of rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and systemic lupus erythematosus in addition to multiple sclerosis, and to explore the correlation between the risk of ID and predicted ultraviolet B (UVB) light exposure and vitamin D status during gestation.Methods: The monthly distribution of births of patients with ID from the UK (n = 115,172) was compared to that of the general population using the Cosinor test. Predicted UVB radiation and vitamin D status in different time windows during pregnancy were calculated for each month of birth and correlated with risk of ID using the Spearman's correlation coefficient.Results: The distributions of ID births significantly differed from that of the general population (P = 5e -12) with a peak in April (odds ratio = 1.045, 95% confidence interval = 1.024, 1.067, P < 0.0001) and a trough in October (odds ratio = 0.945, 95% confidence interval = 0.925, 0.966, P < 0.0001). Stratification by disease subtype showed seasonality in all ID but Crohn's disease. The risk of ID was inversely correlated with predicted second trimester UVB exposure (Spearman's rho = -0.49, P = 0.00005) and third trimester vitamin D status (Spearman's rho = -0.44, P = 0.0003).Conclusions: The risk of different ID in the UK is significantly influenced by the season of birth, suggesting the presence of a shared seasonal risk factor or factors predisposing to ID. Gestational UVB and vitamin D exposure may be implicated in the aetiology of ID.
AB - Background: A season of birth effect in immune-mediated diseases (ID) such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes has been consistently reported. We aimed to investigate whether season of birth influences the risk of rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and systemic lupus erythematosus in addition to multiple sclerosis, and to explore the correlation between the risk of ID and predicted ultraviolet B (UVB) light exposure and vitamin D status during gestation.Methods: The monthly distribution of births of patients with ID from the UK (n = 115,172) was compared to that of the general population using the Cosinor test. Predicted UVB radiation and vitamin D status in different time windows during pregnancy were calculated for each month of birth and correlated with risk of ID using the Spearman's correlation coefficient.Results: The distributions of ID births significantly differed from that of the general population (P = 5e -12) with a peak in April (odds ratio = 1.045, 95% confidence interval = 1.024, 1.067, P < 0.0001) and a trough in October (odds ratio = 0.945, 95% confidence interval = 0.925, 0.966, P < 0.0001). Stratification by disease subtype showed seasonality in all ID but Crohn's disease. The risk of ID was inversely correlated with predicted second trimester UVB exposure (Spearman's rho = -0.49, P = 0.00005) and third trimester vitamin D status (Spearman's rho = -0.44, P = 0.0003).Conclusions: The risk of different ID in the UK is significantly influenced by the season of birth, suggesting the presence of a shared seasonal risk factor or factors predisposing to ID. Gestational UVB and vitamin D exposure may be implicated in the aetiology of ID.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84863486051
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84863486051#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1186/1741-7015-10-69
DO - 10.1186/1741-7015-10-69
M3 - Article
C2 - 22764877
AN - SCOPUS:84863486051
SN - 1741-7015
VL - 10
JO - BMC Medicine
JF - BMC Medicine
M1 - 69
ER -