Researchers find a continued increase and frequency in MS in Hobart

Hobart has consistently had the highest frequencies in Australia since studies began in the 1960s.

Epidemiologist and research fellow Dr Steve Simpson said genetic and environmental factors like smoking are associated with MS, but it's hard to pinpoint a direct cause.

"It's a multifactorial condition. No two people will necessarily have the same factors that contribute to their disease but there are certainly a lot of them that do pop up in various studies that we do."

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He said MS is an autoimmune condition where the immune system of the body starts attacking some tissues in the host, rather than pathogens.

"In the case of MS, the system starts attacking the central nervous system, being the brain and spinal cord."

"The neurological dysfunction we see in MS can range from anything like double vision and senses of paresthesia, which is a sense of numbness and tingling in the limbs for days, weeks or months."

He said this study is a very basic but important one.

"It's a prevalence incidence study, which looks at the frequency of the disease and how it varies between place and time."

He said it follows previous work done in 2009, and is the fifth study on MS in the greater Hobart region since 1961.

"They saw in 1961 the prevalence was 32 per 100,000 people, and it's increased to almost 200 when we did it in 2019."

He said there's also potential for case ascertainment, which means people will have a better diagnosis capability because there's more doctors and better access to care and equipment.

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"There's been a lot of improvements in our society since 1961, but there is reason to think the frequencies are actually increasing and that may be due to changes in some of the risk factors."

An interesting factor mentioned in the study is the introduction of the slip-slop-slap campaign, which was brought about from melanoma concerns.

He said the campaign which tried to reduce sun exposure and cancer risks may have potentially lead people to having less vitamin D: a possible link to MS.

"It was seen particularly in pregnant women who were trying to get less sun exposure and reduce the risk of cancer."

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"They could in consequence have had less sun exposure which leads to less vitamin D and potentially lead to deficiency, which has been associated with MS."

He said Hobart has also been the poster child for an effect called the latitudinal gradient, which also ties into the vitamin D possibility.

The phenomenon suggests the further away you move from the equator, the frequency of MS goes up in both the southern and northern hemispheres.

"It's been seen in people with MS pretty much since they started counting people and doing these prevalence incident studies," said Dr Simpson.

"Hobart generally had two times the prevalence and incidents compared to Newcastle, and seven times that of tropical Queensland."

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"You see a similar latitude within the US, Canada and the UK."

"There's reason to think that may be a function of ambient ultra-violet, particularly winter UV, but there's other factors that have been investigated for latitudinal gradients, like smoking and differences in ancestry."

"The big conclusion is the prevalence and incidents in Hobart have increased, and Hobart continues to have the highest frequencies in the Australiasian region and work still needs to be done."

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