summary: MS is a disease of unknown cause. Since the environment may play a role in its development, the authors investigated if the risk of developing MS increases in people whose mothers had gestational diabetes. They studied a group of more than 5,000 people with MS and a group of healthy controls (spousal control group). They compared the proportion of people whose mothers had diabetes during the period of pregnancy between the two groups. The authors found that in the group of people with MS, the proportion of mothers with gestational diabetes was significantly higher than the the group of healthy controls. Although the results of this study must be taken cautiously because of the limitations inherent to a retrospective analysis, they may offer insights into the pathogenesis of the disease.

authors: Ramagopalan SV, Dyment DA, Ebers GC, Sadovnick AD

source: Epidemiology. 2009 Sep;20(5):783-4

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