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Risk of Multiple Sclerosis Related to Age at Immigration to Israel
MILTON ALTER, MD, PhD;
URI LEIBOWITZ, MD;
JUSTINE SPEER, PHN, MS
Arch Neurol. 1966;15(3):234-237.
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| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings. |
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MULTIPLE sclerosis tends to be common in temperate latitudes and rare in regions near the equator.1-4 This geographical distribution suggests that some factor in temperate environments causes the disease, or, conversely, a protective factor is present in tropical regions. If an environmental factor accounts for the difference in frequency between temperate and tropical regions, then migration from one climatic zone to another could affect the risk of developing the disease. Individuals migrating from temperate to tropical areas would be expected to have a decreased risk of acquiring multiple sclerosis whereas those migrating in the opposite direction might increase their risk. An altered risk would be especially evident if migration occurred at a young age before there was adequate opportunity for exposure to the etiological (or protective) factor. Moreover, if risk changed sharply with migration at a particular age, it would suggest that the disease was usually acquired before
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
MINNEAPOLIS; JERUSALEM, ISRAEL; MINNEAPOLIS
From the Department of Neurology, University of Minnesota (Dr. Alter and Mrs. Speer), and Department of Neurology, Hebrew University-Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel (Dr. Leibowitz).
Footnotes
Submitted for publication April 21, 1966; accepted May 19.
Reprint requests to Department of Neurology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis 55455 (Dr. Alter).
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