Epidemiology of multiple sclerosis in U.S. veterans: 1. Race, sex, and geographic distribution
Kurtzke, J.F.; Beebe, G.W.; Norman, J.E.
Neurology 29(9 Pt 1): 1228-1235
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-3878 PMID: 573402 Document Number: 151074
World War II and Korean conflict veterans [5305] who are compensated by the Veterans Administration for multiple sclerosis (MS) were matched to controls based on age, date of entry into military service and branch of service. Case/control ratios for white males, white females and black males were 1.04, 1.86 and 0.45, respectively. The coterminous 48 states, divided into 3 tiers based on latitude, exhibited the well-known north-south gradient in risk. For all races and both sexes, case/control ratios were 1.41, 1.00 and 0.53 for the north, middle and south tiers. Both white females and black males showed this same north-to-south variation in risk. The case/control ratio for males of races other than black or white was 0.23, with possible deficits in risk for American Indians and Japanese-Americans. Filipinos and Hawaiian Japanese were significantly low-risk groups. A racial and possibly a genetic predisposition, and a geographically determined differential exposure to an environmental agent, are apparently related to the risk of MS.