Currently the diagnosis rate for women with MS is about twice that of men, although 100 years ago it was about even. So why this change?
One factor is the rapid decline in maternal mortality. Researchers estimated the number of women dying around the world in ,2008, during or shortly after pregnancy, to be 342,900, down from 526,300 in 1980. The historical level was about 1 in 100 births.
As MS tends to be diagnosed later in life, how many women died before their disease became apparent?
For those of us interested in CCSVI, it is interesting to note that the rate of Chronic Venous Disease (CVD) is also twice as high in women as in men.
Here is Dr. Ferlini's genetic study, where she found CCSVI and MS share copy number variations on the same HLA locus region that is associated with MS.
http://www.fondazionehilarescere.org/pdf/ferlini-etal-2010-final.pdf
Maybe someone will join up the dots one day............................
I have a theory about this. My theory is that the genome (or whatever) that causes MS is in the X chromosome. Women have two, men have one.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post, Sue.