Reducing Early-Life Smoke Exposure as a Preventive Strategy for Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis: Results from the...

Area of Science:

• Environmental epidemiology
• Neuroimmunology
• Pediatric neurology

Background:

• Assessing environmental influences on multiple sclerosis (MS) is challenging due to long disease latency and recall bias, particularly for perinatal exposures.
• Investigating the link between parental smoking and pediatric MS (PedMS) is crucial for understanding early-life environmental risk factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the association between parental smoking and the incidence of pediatric multiple sclerosis (PedMS).

Main Methods:

• Prospective data collection using the PEQ-IT questionnaire within the Italian multicenter PEDIGREE study.
• Enrollment of 114 pediatric MS cases (diagnosed using 2013 Krupp criteria, disease duration ≤5 years) and 121 matched controls under 18 years of age.

Main Results:

• A higher risk of PedMS was observed in children whose fathers were current smokers (OR 1.94) or smoked 3 months pre-pregnancy (OR 1.79).
• The risk of PedMS was significantly elevated when both parents smoked (OR 2.03), with the highest risk when both smoked 3 months before pregnancy (OR 10.79).
• No significant association was found between maternal smoking and pediatric MS risk.

Conclusions:

• Paternal smoking, both current and pre-conception, appears to be a significant risk factor for pediatric MS.
• Promoting smoke-free environments for parents may be a viable preventive measure against early-life environmental factors contributing to MS susceptibility.