More women developing multiple sclerosis than men in due course

April 27 : A recent research has found that over time more women are developing multiple sclerosis (MS) than men.

The study, which will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 – May 5, 2007, demonstrates that the two to one ratio of women to men with MS in the United States in 1940 has grown to approximately four to one in 2000.

“That’s an increase in the ratio of women to men of nearly 50 percent per decade,” said study author Gary Cutter, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health. “We don’t yet know why more women are developing MS than men, and more research is needed.”

Cutter said researchers will need to discover multiple changes that have cropped up for women over the last several decades, together with the use of oral contraceptives, earlier menstruation, obesity rates, changes in smoking rates, and later age of first births.

“We also need to ask the general questions about what women do differently than men, such as use of hair dye and use of cosmetics that may block vitamin D absorption,” he said. “At this point we’re just speculating on avenues of research that could be pursued.”

Cutter also pointed out that the principal boost in the ratio has been for those whose MS started at younger ages.

For the study, researchers examined a database (the North American Research Committee On Multiple Sclerosis, or NARCOMS, hosted at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Ariz.) of 30,336 people with MS and determined the male/female ratio according to the year the disease was diagnosed and the age of the person when the disease started. (ANI)