Trial reportBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2003
Past exposure to sun, skin phenotype, and risk of multiple sclerosis: case-control study.
Trial report in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 131 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
131 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 554 citations in OpenAlex.
- Role of vitamin D as adjuvant therapy on multiple sclerosis: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.European journal of medical research · 2025Pooled it
- Vitamin, antioxidant and micronutrient supplementation and the risk of developing incident autoimmune diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety outcomes in vitamin D supplement users in the fingolimod phase 3 trials.Journal of neurology · 2018Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Vitamin D and Health: Establishing Causal Relationships Through Observational Evidence and Hill's Criteria in a Biological Framework.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Higher sun exposure is associated with a reduced risk of primary biliary cholangitis.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Management and Prevention of Neurodegenerative Disorders: Can Antioxidant-Rich Dietary Interventions Help?Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The epidemiology, pathology and pathogenesis of MS: Therapeutic implications.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025Review
- Association Between Sun Exposure and Risk of Relapse in Pediatric-Onset Multiple Sclerosis.Neurology(R) neuroimmunology & neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- Expert Consensus on Big Data Collection of Skin and Appendage Disease Phenotypes in Chinese.Phenomics (Cham, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Evidence supports a causal association between allele-specific vitamin D receptor binding and multiple sclerosis among Europeans.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Examining the environmental risk factors of progressive-onset and relapsing-onset multiple sclerosis: recruitment challenges, potential bias, and statistical strategies.Journal of neurology · 2024Article
- Multiple sclerosis and abnormal spermatozoa: A bidirectional two-sample mendelian randomization study.PloS one · 2024Article
- Ultraviolet and infrared radiation in Australia: assessing the benefits, risks, and optimal exposure guidelines.Frontiers in public health · 2024Review
- Vitamin D deficiency in relation with the systemic and central inflammation during multiple sclerosis.Journal of medical biochemistry · 2023Article
- Melatonin and Health: Insights of Melatonin Action, Biological Functions, and Associated Disorders.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2023Review
- Vitamin D: Can Gender Medicine Have a Role?Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Multifaceted Analysis of Cerebrospinal Fluid and Serum from Progressive Multiple Sclerosis Patients: Potential Role of Vitamin C and Metal Ion Imbalance in the Divergence of Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.Journal of proteome research · 2023Article
- Is there a window of opportunity for the therapeutic use of vitamin D in multiple sclerosis?Neural regeneration research · 2022Review
71 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo examine whether past high sun exposure is associated with a reduced risk of multiple sclerosis.
designPopulation based case-control study.
settingTasmania, latitudes 41-3 degrees S.
participants136 cases with multiple sclerosis and 272 controls randomly drawn from the community and matched on sex and year of birth.
main outcome measureMultiple sclerosis defined by both clinical and magnetic resonance imaging criteria.
resultsHigher sun exposure when aged 6-15 years (average 2-3 hours or more a day in summer during weekends and holidays) was associated with a decreased risk of multiple sclerosis (adjusted odds ratio 0.31, 95% confidence interval 0.16 to 0.59). Higher exposure in winter seemed more important than higher exposure in summer. Greater actinic damage was also independently associated with a decreased risk of multiple sclerosis (0.32, 0.11 to 0.88 for grades 4-6 disease). A dose-response relation was observed between multiple sclerosis and decreasing sun exposure when aged 6-15 years and with actinic damage.
conclusionHigher sun exposure during childhood and early adolescence is associated with a reduced risk of multiple sclerosis. Insufficient ultraviolet radiation may therefore influence the development of multiple sclerosis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.