Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Que., Canada.
Neuroepidemiology. 2015;44(3):173-81. doi: 10.1159/000381779. Epub 2015 May 7.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the central nervous system, often resulting in significant neurological disability. The causes of MS are not known; however, the incidence of MS is increasing, thereby suggesting that changes in lifestyle and/or environmental factors may be responsible. On this background, the Environmental Risk Factors in MS Study or EnvIMS study was designed to further explore the etiology of MS. The design and methodology are described, providing details to enable investigators to (i) use our experiences to design their own studies; (ii) take advantage of, and build on the methodological work completed for, the EnvIMS study; (iii) become aware of this data source that is available for use by the research community.
EnvIMS is a multinational case-control study, enrolling 2,800 cases with MS and 5,012 population-based controls in Canada, Italy, Norway, Serbia and Sweden. The study was designed to investigate the most commonly implicated risk factors for MS etiology using a self-report questionnaire.
RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: The use of a common methodology to study MS etiology across several countries enhances the comparability of results in different geographic regions and research settings, reduces the resources required for study design and enhances the opportunity for data harmonization.
多发性硬化症（MS）是一种中枢神经系统的慢性疾病，常导致严重的神经功能障碍。MS 的病因尚不清楚；然而，MS 的发病率正在上升，这表明生活方式和/或环境因素的变化可能是罪魁祸首。在此背景下，设计了多发性硬化症环境风险因素研究（EnvIMS），以进一步探讨 MS 的病因。本文介绍了研究的设计和方法学，提供了详细信息，使研究人员能够：（i）利用我们的经验设计自己的研究；（ii）利用并扩展为 EnvIMS 研究完成的方法学工作；（iii）了解可用于研究界使用的这一数据源。
EnvIMS 是一项多国病例对照研究，在加拿大、意大利、挪威、塞尔维亚和瑞典招募了 2800 例 MS 患者和 5012 例基于人群的对照。该研究旨在使用自我报告问卷调查最常涉及的 MS 病因危险因素。
结果/结论：在多个国家使用通用方法研究 MS 病因可以增强不同地理区域和研究环境下结果的可比性，减少研究设计所需的资源，并增强数据协调的机会。
