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Multiple sclerosis in women having children by multiple partners. A population-based study in Denmark

Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark, basso2{at}niehs.nih.gov

Rita Campi

Laboratory for Mother and Child Health, Istituto Ricerche Farmacologiche ‘Mario Negri’, Milan, Italy

Morten Frydenberg

Department of Biostatistics, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark

Nils Koch-Henriksen

Neurology Department, Aalborg Hospital North, Aalborg, Denmark

Henrik Brønnum-Hansen

National Institute of Public Health, Copenhagen, Denmark

Jørn Olsen

Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark

We investigated whether having children with multiple men is a risk factor for being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). We studied a cohort of 151 328 women, of whom 64 704 had different men fathering their children and 86 624 the same partner for all births. Women were included if they had a second or higher parity child between 1973 and 1996. The follow-up for MS ended in 1997. There were a total of 213 cases of MS diagnosed during the study period. We analysed data through Poisson regression models. Women having children with different men were not at higher risk of being diagnosed with MS, with the possible exception of a short period after having a baby with a new partner. Women having children with more than one man may have a higher risk of a pregnancy accelerating the diagnosis of MS but are probably not at an overall higher risk of MS.

Key Words: multiple sclerosis • longitudinal study • multiple partners • microchimerism

Multiple Sclerosis, Vol. 10, No. 6, 621-625 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/1352458504ms1099oa


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