HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Data Supplement Correspondence: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Correspondence are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Koch, M. Articles by De Keyser, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Koch, M. Articles by De Keyser, J. Related Collections Multiple sclerosis Cohort studies

Cigarette smoking and progression in multiple sclerosis

From the Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr Koch, Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9713 GZ Groningen, The Netherlands m.w.koch{at}neuro.umcg.nl

Objective: To investigate the influence of cigarette smoking on progression and disability accumulation in multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: Information on past and present smoking of 364 patients with MS was obtained through a structured questionnaire survey. We used Kaplan-Meier analyses and Cox regression models to evaluate the influence of smoking on the development and age at onset of secondary progression, on the age at onset of progression in patients with primary progressive MS, and on the time from disease onset to Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores 4.0 and 6.0 in all patients. We also investigated the correlation between smoked pack-years and EDSS scores and the rate of progression as measured with the Multiple Sclerosis Severity Score.

Results: We found no significant associations between cigarette smoking and any of the used measures.

Conclusion: Our data suggest that cigarette smoking has no influence on disease progression or accumulation of disability in multiple sclerosis.

GLOSSARY: BMS = benign relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis; EDSS = Expanded Disability Status Scale; IMT = immunomodulating therapy; IQR = interquartile range; MS = multiple sclerosis; MSSS = Multiple Sclerosis Severity Score; PPMS = primary progressive multiple sclerosis; RRMS = relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis; SPMS = secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.

Supplemental data at www.neurology.org

Supported by MS Anders, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Received February 19, 2007. Accepted in final form April 30, 2007.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P Sundstrom and L Nystrom Smoking worsens the prognosis in multiple sclerosis Multiple Sclerosis, September 1, 2008; 14(8): 1031 - 1035. [Abstract] [PDF]

				F Di Pauli, M Reindl, R Ehling, F Schautzer, C Gneiss, A Lutterotti, E. O'Reilly, K. Munger, F Deisenhammer, A Ascherio, et al. Smoking is a risk factor for early conversion to clinically definite multiple sclerosis Multiple Sclerosis, September 1, 2008; 14(8): 1026 - 1030. [Abstract] [PDF]