SynthesisPloS one2011
Smoking and multiple sclerosis: an updated meta-analysis.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers, 4 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
85 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 287 citations in OpenAlex.
- Environmental risk factors for multiple sclerosis: a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Association between alcohol consumption and multiple sclerosis: a meta-analysis of observational studies.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2015Pooled it
- Risk factors associated with the onset of relapsing-remitting and primary progressive multiple sclerosis: a systematic review.BioMed research international · 2015Pooled it
- Smoking and multiple sclerosis: evidence for latitudinal and temporal variation.Journal of neurology · 2014Pooled it
- Smoking, obesity, and disability worsening in PPMS: an analysis of the INFORMS original trial dataset.Journal of neurology · 2022Trial
- Comorbidity and modifiable risk factors in multiple sclerosis.Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders · 2026Review
- Sleep and Risk of Multiple Sclerosis: Bridging the Gap Between Inflammation and Neurodegeneration via Glymphatic Failure.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Factors associated with vitamin D levels in Mongolian patients with multiple sclerosis.PloS one · 2025Article
- Multiple sclerosis: etiology in the context of neurovascular unit and immune system involvement and advancements withFrontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- The Impact of Aging on Neurological Diseases in the Elderly: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Perspectives.Aging and disease · 2024Review
- Lifetime exposure to smoking and substance abuse may be associated with late-onset multiple sclerosis: a population-based case-control study.BMC neurology · 2024Article
- Natural language processing analysis of the theories of people with multiple sclerosis about causes of their disease.Communications medicine · 2024Article
- Reverse causation between multiple sclerosis and psoriasis: a genetic correlation and Mendelian randomization study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Smoking and multiple sclerosis risk in black people: A nested case-control study.Multiple sclerosis and related disorders · 2024Article
- Association between multiple sclerosis and cancer risk: A two-sample Mendelian randomization study.PloS one · 2024Article
- Unveiling the fate and potential neuroprotective role of neural stem/progenitor cells in multiple sclerosis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Review
- Systematic replication of smoking disease associations using survey responses and EHR data in the All of Us Research Program.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2023Article
- Smoking, early menopause and multiple sclerosis disease course.Climacteric : the journal of the International Menopause Society · 2023Article
- The Importance of Managing Modifiable Comorbidities in People with Multiple Sclerosis: A Narrative Review.Journal of personalized medicine · 2023Review
- Investigating the Effect of Cigarette Smoking on Serum Uric Acid Levels in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: A Cross Sectional Study.Brain sciences · 2023Article
25 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
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a leading cause of disability in young adults. Susceptibility to MS is determined by environmental exposure on the background of genetic risk factors. A previous meta-analysis suggested that smoking was an important risk factor for MS but many other studies have been published since then. METHODS/PRINCIPAL
findingsWe performed a Medline search to identify articles published that investigated MS risk following cigarette smoking. A total of 14 articles were included in this study. This represented data on 3,052 cases and 457,619 controls. We analysed these studies in both a conservative (limiting our analysis to only those where smoking behaviour was described prior to disease onset) and non-conservative manner. Our results show that smoking is associated with MS susceptibility (conservative: risk ratio (RR) 1.48, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.35-1.63, p < 10⁻¹⁵; non-conservative: RR 1.52, 95% CI 1.39-1.66, p < 10⁻¹⁹). We also analysed 4 studies reporting risk of secondary progression in MS and found that this fell just short of statistical significance with considerable heterogeneity (RR 1.88, 95% CI 0.98-3.61, p = 0.06). DISCUSSION: Our results demonstrate that cigarette smoking is important in determining MS susceptibility but the effect on the progression of disease is less certain. Further work is needed to understand the mechanism behind this association and how smoking integrates with other established risk factors.
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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.