Some environmental factors are associated with an increased risk of multiple sclerosis (MS). Air pollution could be a main one. This study was conducted to investigate the association of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) concentrations with MS prevalence in the province of Pavia, Italy. The overall MS prevalence in the province of Pavia is 169.4 per 100,000 inhabitants. Spatial ground-level PM2.5 gridded data were analysed, by municipality, for the period 2010-2016. Municipalities were grouped by tertiles according to PM2.5 concentration. Ecological regression and Bayesian statistics were used to analyse the association between PM2.5 concentrations, degree of urbanization, deprivation index and MS risk. MS risk was higher among persons living in areas with an average winter PM2.5 concentration above the European annual limit value (25 μg/m3). The Bayesian map revealed sizeable MS high-risk clusters. The study found a relationship between low MS risk and lower PM2.5 levels, strengthening the suggestion that air pollution may be one of the environmental risk factors for MS.

中文翻译：

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PM2.5暴露是多发性硬化症的危险因素。用贝叶斯映射方法进行的生态研究。

一些环境因素与多发性硬化症（MS）风险增加相关。空气污染可能是主要的。这项研究的目的是调查意大利帕维亚省2.5颗粒物（PM2.5）浓度与MS患病率的关系。帕维亚省的整体MS患病率为每10万居民169.4。由市政当局分析了2010-2016年期间的空间地面PM2.5网格数据。根据PM2.5浓度，按城市将城市分类。生态回归和贝叶斯统计被用来分析PM2.5浓度，城市化程度，贫困指数和MS风险之间的关系。生活在冬季平均PM2.5浓度高于欧洲年度限值（25μg/ m3）的地区的人群中，MS风险较高。贝叶斯地图显示了相当大的MS高风险集群。该研究发现低MS风险与较低PM2.5水平之间存在关联，这进一步表明空气污染可能是MS的环境风险因素之一。