Respiratory tract rather than cutaneous atopic allergy inversely associate with multiple sclerosis: a case-control study.
BACKGROUND
It has been previously shown that genetic or environmental factors, which promote susceptibility to allergic conditions, prevent the development of Th1-mediated inflammatory disease of multiple sclerosis (MS). To investigate the prediction value of lifetime atopic allergy in development of the future MS, a case-control study was designed.


METHODS
Cases and controls were interviewed between December 2007 and April 2008 and they were asked if they had symptoms or diagnosis of allergies (including respiratory tract allergy, RTA; coetaneous allergy, CA; food/drug allergy, FDA) before MS diagnosis.


RESULTS
Of 390 participants (195 controls and 195 cases), 125 healthy controls (64.1%) and 105 cases (53.8%) reported history of at least one type of atopic allergy (P=0.04). A positive history of RTA (OR 0.43; 95% CI 0.28-0.66) or FDA (OR 0.24; 95% CI 0.13-0.43) was inversely associated with the risk of MS. No statistically significant association was found between the history of CA and MS.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a significant inverse association between RTA and MS that is compatible with a Th1/Th2 imbalance. History of RTA can be considered as a clinically useful risk reducing factor of MS.
['Sahraian|Mohammad Ali|MA|', 'Jafarian|Sirous|S|', 'Sheikhbahaei|Sara|S|', 'Safavi|Farinaz|F|']
D000328:Adult D000485:Allergens D016022:Case-Control Studies D005260:Female D005512:Food Hypersensitivity D006801:Humans D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate D007372:Interferons D007492:Iran D016015:Logistic Models D008297:Male D009103:Multiple Sclerosis D016017:Odds Ratio D015995:Prevalence D012130:Respiratory Hypersensitivity D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Multiple sclerosis Atopic hypersensitivity Eczema Food hypersensitivity Respiratory hypersensitivity