TY - JOUR
PY - 2022//
TI - Sports and trauma as risk factors for motor neurone disease: New Zealand case-control study
JO - Acta neurologica Scandinavica
A1 - Chen, Grace Xia
A1 - Douwes, Jeroen
A1 - van den Berg, Leonard H.
A1 - Glass, Bill
A1 - McLean, David
A1 - 't Mannetje, Andrea Martine
SP - ePub
EP - ePub
VL - ePub
IS - ePub
N2 - OBJECTIVES: To assess whether sports, physical trauma and emotional trauma are associated with motor neurone disease (MND) in a New Zealand case-control study (2013-2016).
METHODS: In total, 321 MND cases and 605 population controls were interviewed collecting information on lifetime histories of playing sports, physical trauma (head injury with concussion, spine injury) and emotional trauma (14 categories). ORs were estimated using logistic regression adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, smoking status, alcohol consumption and mutually adjusting for all other exposures.
RESULTS: Head injury with concussion ≥3 years before diagnosis was associated with MND (OR 1.51, 95% CI: 1.09-2.09), with strongest associations for two (OR 4.01, 95% CI: 1.82-8.86), and three or more (OR 2.34, 95% CI: 1.00-5.45) head injuries. Spine injury was not associated with MND (OR 0.81, 95% CI: 0.48-1.36). Compared to never playing sports, engaging in sports throughout childhood and adulthood increased MND risk (OR 1.81, 95% CI: 1.01-3.25), as was more than 12 years playing football/soccer (OR 2.35, 95% CI: 1.19-4.65). Reporting emotionally traumatic events in more than three categories was associated with MND (OR 1.88, 95% CI: 1.17-3.03), with physical childhood abuse the only specific emotional trauma associated with MND (OR 1.82, 95% CI: 1.14-2.90), particularly for those reporting longer abuse duration (OR((5-8 years)) 2.26, 95% CI: 1.14-4.49; OR((>8 years)) 3.01, 95% CI: 1.18-7.70). For females, having witnessed another person being killed, seriously injured or assaulted also increased MND risk (OR 2.68, 95% CI: 1.06-6.76).
CONCLUSIONS: This study adds to the evidence that repeated head injury with concussion, playing sports in general, and playing football (soccer) in particular, are associated with an increased risk of MND. Emotional trauma, that is physical abuse in childhood, may also play a role.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0001-6314 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ane.13615 ID - ref1 ER -