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Seasonal Pattern Is Seen in MS Patients

by Brandon on Wed Sep 01, 2010 4:49 am
Aug. 31, 2010 -- Brain lesions associated with increased multiple sclerosis activity appear in patients more often between the months of March and August, a new study shows.

Researchers also say warmer temperatures and solar radiation also seem to be linked to increased activity in MS patients.

Scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and Washington University in St. Louis compared magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 44 people with untreated MS, taken from 1991 to 1993, to weather data from the same time period.

Each person had eight weekly scans, then eight scans every other week, followed by six monthly checkups. The average number of MRI scans was 22 per person.

The scientists examined daily temperatures, solar radiation, and precipitation measures for the Boston area.

After a year, 310 new lesions that cause MS symptoms were found in 31 patients. No new lesions were found in 13 participants in the study.

"Our results showed that the appearance of lesions on brain scans was two to three times higher in the months of March to August, compared to other months of the year," study researcher Dominik Meier, PhD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, says in a news release. "Not only were more lesions found during the spring and summer seasons, our study also found that warmer temperature and solar radiation were linked to disease activity."

No connection was found between brain lesions and precipitation.

The study is published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
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