Preliminary analysis of month of birth in Iranian/Isfahan patients with multiple sclerosis

BACKGROUND: Previous publications reported that an individual's month of birth (MOB) might have an important correlation to that consequent risk of multiple sclerosis (MS). AIM: The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate the distribution of different MOBs inpatients with MS in Isfahan, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This investigation was conducted to the Isfahan Neurosciences Research Centre. 1283 patients with MS were studied. Clinical data were recorded in d-Base and analyzed using SPSS (version 18) for Windows. RESULTS: Of the total population studied there were 979 females and 304 males. The mean age of all the patients was 34.6 years (range 10-87 years). Within the total population, the MOBs in the 62% of patients were in the season's spring and summer, and in 38% of patients they were in the season's autumn and winter. As the MOB might be recognized to have a bearing on an individual's risk of contracting MS, the highest and lowest correlations seem to be linked with April, September, May (↑), and November (↓), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The seasonal relationship between MOBs and MS risk might be pointed toward a potential function for vitamin D throughout pregnancy or the early life of the newborn. Further studies are needed to confirm these correlations.