ArticlePLoS medicine2021
Anomalously warm weather and acute care visits in patients with multiple sclerosis: A retrospective study of privately insured individuals in the US.
Article in PLoS medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Geospatial analysis of environmental atmospheric risk factors in neurodegenerative diseases: a systematic review update.Systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Extreme temperature events and hospitalizations for 59 autoimmune diseases in Korea: A nationwide outcome-wide, time-stratified, case-crossover study.Environmental research · 2026Article
- Climate Change-Mediated Temperature Extremes: Effects on the Immune System and Associations with Immune-Related Diseases.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2026Review
- Data Considerations for Estimating Ambient Heat Exposure for Environmental Epidemiological Studies.Current environmental health reports · 2026Review
- Polish Adaptation and Psychometric Validation of the METEO-Q in Healthy, Cardiac, and Psychiatric Samples.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Action potential: Impact of climate change on neurological disease in Ireland.Irish journal of medical science · 2026Review
- Pitfalls of Using Negative Control Outcomes in Environmental Epidemiology.Current environmental health reports · 2025Article
- Temperature extremes impact mortality and morbidity differently.Science advances · 2025Article
- Seasonal Variations in Multiple Sclerosis Relapses in Oman: A Single Tertiary Centre Experience.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Article
- The Effectiveness of a Single Dry Needling Session on Gait and Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis: A Double-Blind Randomized Sham-Controlled Pilot Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Spatio-temporal interpolation and delineation of extreme heat events in California between 2017 and 2021.Environmental research · 2023Article
- Article
- The association between temperature and alcohol- and substance-related disorder hospital visits in New York State.Communications medicine · 2023Article
- Impacts of Climate Change and Air Pollution on Neurologic Health, Disease, and Practice: A Scoping Review.Neurology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAs the global climate changes in response to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, weather and temperature are expected to become increasingly variable. Although heat sensitivity is a recognized clinical feature of multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system, few studies have examined the implications of climate change for patients with this disease. METHODS AND
findingsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of individuals with MS ages 18-64 years in a nationwide United States patient-level commercial and Medicare Advantage claims database from 2003 to 2017. We defined anomalously warm weather as any month in which local average temperatures exceeded the long-term average by ≥1.5°C. We estimated the association between anomalously warm weather and MS-related inpatient, outpatient, and emergency department visits using generalized log-linear models. From 75,395,334 individuals, we identified 106,225 with MS. The majority were women (76.6%) aged 36-55 years (59.0%). Anomalously warm weather was associated with increased risk for emergency department visits (risk ratio [RR] = 1.043, 95% CI: 1.025-1.063) and inpatient visits (RR = 1.032, 95% CI: 1.010-1.054). There was limited evidence of an association between anomalously warm weather and MS-related outpatient visits (RR = 1.010, 95% CI: 1.005-1.015). Estimates were similar for men and women, strongest among older individuals, and exhibited substantial variation by season, region, and climate zone. Limitations of the present study include the absence of key individual-level measures of socioeconomic position (i.e., race/ethnicity, occupational status, and housing quality) that may determine where individuals live-and therefore the extent of their exposure to anomalously warm weather-as well as their propensity to seek treatment for neurologic symptoms.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that as global temperatures rise, individuals with MS may represent a particularly susceptible subpopulation, a finding with implications for both healthcare providers and systems.
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