ArticlePloS one
Is Geo-Environmental Exposure a Risk Factor for Multiple Sclerosis? A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study in South-Western Sardinia.
Article in PloS one. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Geospatial analysis of environmental atmospheric risk factors in neurodegenerative diseases: a systematic review update.Systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Geospatial Analysis of Environmental Atmospheric Risk Factors in Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Cumulative and Interactive Effects of Heavy Metal Mixtures Across Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Comparative Review of Alzheimer, Parkinson, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Multiple Sclerosis.Journal of xenobiotics · 2026Review
- Scutellarin Alleviates Cuprizone-Induced Demyelination by Improving Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Reducing Lipid Oxidation and Inhibiting the p38 MAPK Pathway.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Associations of essential and toxic metals/metalloids in whole blood with both disease severity and mortality in patients with COVID-19.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2021Article
- Relevance of Essential Trace Elements in Nutrition and Drinking Water for Human Health and Autoimmune Disease Risk.Nutrients · 2020Review
- Article
- Review
- Lower Serum Zinc Levels in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis Compared to Healthy Controls.Nutrients · 2018Article
- Multiple sclerosis spatial cluster in Tuscany.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSouth-Western Sardinia (SWS) is a high risk area for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) with high prevalence and spatial clustering; its population is genetically representative of Sardinians and presents a peculiar environment. We evaluated the MS environmental risk of specific heavy metals (HM) and geographical factors such as solar UV exposure and urbanization by undertaking a population-based cross-sectional study in SWS.
methodsGeochemical data on HM, UV exposure, urbanization and epidemiological MS data were available for all SWS municipalities. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to the geochemical data to reduce multicollinearity and confounding criticalities. Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) were applied to evaluate the causal effects of the potential risk factors, and a model selection was performed using Akaike Information Criterion.
resultsThe PCA revealed that copper (Cu) does not cluster, while two component scores were extracted: 'basic rocks', including cobalt, chromium and nickel, and 'ore deposits', including lead and zinc. The selected multivariable GLMM highlighted Cu and sex as MS risk factors, adjusting for age and 'ore deposits'. When the Cu concentration increases by 50 ppm, the MS odds are 2.827 (95% CI: 1.645; 5.07) times higher; females have a MS odds 2.04 times (95% CI: 1.59; 2.60) higher than males.
conclusionsThe high frequency of MS in industrialized countries, where pollution by HM and CO poisoning is widespread, suggests a relationship between environmental exposure to metals and MS. Hence, we suggested a role of Cu homeostasis in MS. This is a preliminary study aimed at generating hypotheses that will need to be confirmed further.
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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.