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Regional, socioeconomic and occupational groups and risk of hospital admission for multiple sclerosis: a cohort study in Sweden

Center for Family and Community Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Sweden, xinjun.li{at}ki.se

K Hemminki

Center for Family and Community Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Sweden; Division of Molecular Genetic Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany

K Sundquist

Center for Family and Community Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Sweden

Objective

The aim of this study was to investigate possible associations between hospitalization for multiple sclerosis (MS) and region, socioeconomic status and occupation.

Methods

A nationwide database was constructed by linking Swedish Census data to the Hospital Discharge Register (1987–2001). The hospital diagnoses of MS were based on the International Classification of Diseases. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated.

Results

Significantly increased or decreased risks of hospitalization for MS were found for individuals living in some counties. The overall SIRs for hospitalizations for MS were close to unity between different socioeconomic groups. Male religious workers, male postal workers and female administrators who had the same occupational title in two consecutive censuses had substantially higher risks of hospitalization for MS than the reference group. However, no increased risks were found for most occupational groups.

Conclusions

The present study suggests that region, socioeconomic status and occupation have a minor effect on the population’s risk of hospitalization for MS.

Key Words: follow-up study • multiple sclerosis • occupational exposure • socioeconomic status

Multiple Sclerosis, Vol. 14, No. 4, 522-529 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1352458506073523


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