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SAGE Publications, Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 11(19), p. 1473-1477

DOI: 10.1177/1352458513480010

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Cesarean section and offspring's risk of multiple sclerosis: a Danish nationwide cohort study

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Background: Apart from a recent study reporting a 2- to 3-fold increased risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) among women and men who were delivered by Cesarean section (C-section), little attention has been given to the possible association between mode of delivery and the risk of MS. Objectives: We studied the association between C-section and risk of MS, in a cohort of 1.7 million Danes born from 1973 to 2005. Methods: Information on C-section and MS was obtained from the Danish Medical Birth Register and the Danish MS Register, respectively. The association between C-section and MS was evaluated by means of MS incidence rate ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) obtained in log-linear Poisson regression analyses. Results: There were 930 cases of MS in the study cohort, of whom 80 (9%) were delivered by C-section. Overall, we found there was no significant association between C-section and risk of MS (RR = 1.17; 0.92–1.46). Analyses stratified by sex revealed no unusual risk of MS for women (RR = 1.08: 0.80–1.42) nor men (RR = 1.37: 0.91–1.98). A supplementary sibling-matched Cox regression analysis likewise suggested there was no excess risk of MS in persons delivered by C-section (HR = 1.03; 0.63–1.69). Conclusions: Mode of delivery appears to be unimportant in relation to MS development in the offspring.