↓ Skip to main content

Latitude, sun exposure and vitamin D supplementation: associations with quality of life and disease outcomes in a large international cohort of people with multiple sclerosis

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Neurology, August 2015
Altmetric Badge

About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (95th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (98th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
3 news outlets
twitter
20 X users
facebook
11 Facebook pages
reddit
1 Redditor
video
1 YouTube creator

Readers on

mendeley
179 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
Latitude, sun exposure and vitamin D supplementation: associations with quality of life and disease outcomes in a large international cohort of people with multiple sclerosis
Published in
BMC Neurology, August 2015
DOI 10.1186/s12883-015-0394-1
Pubmed ID
Authors

George A. Jelinek, Claudia H. Marck, Tracey J. Weiland, Naresh Pereira, Dania M. van der Meer, Emily J. Hadgkiss

Abstract

A growing evidence base implicates vitamin D, sun exposure and latitude in the aetiology of multiple sclerosis (MS), however there are less data on the associations of these variables with disease outcomes. We undertook a cross-sectional survey of over 2000 people with MS recruited through internet platforms, seeking self-reported data on geographical location, intentional sun exposure for health, and supplementation with vitamin D, among other lifestyle variables. We also requested data on health-related quality of life (MSQOL-54), self-reported doctor-diagnosed relapse rate, and disability (Patient Determined Disease Steps). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used for comparisons, including multiple linear regression modeling. Of 2301 participants, 82.3 % were female, median age was 45 years (IQR 38-53 years), with a median time since diagnosis of 6 years (IQR 3-12 years), the majority (61.6 %) having relapsing-remitting MS. Nearly two-thirds (64.6 %) lived in the Northern hemisphere, mostly in developed countries. Most (66.8 %) reported deliberate sun exposure to raise their vitamin D level, and the vast majority (81.8 %) took vitamin D supplements, mostly 2000-5000 IU a day on average. Unadjusted regression modeling incorporating deliberate sun exposure, latitude and vitamin D supplementation showed strong associations of sun exposure with HRQOL which disappeared when controlling for gender, age, disability, physical activity, and fish consumption. In contrast, associations between vitamin D supplementation and HRQOL were maintained adjusting for these variables, with a dose-response effect. Only latitude had significant adjusted associations with disability, with an increase of latitude by one degree (further from the equator) predicting increased odds of moderate disability (OR 1.02 (95 % CI 1.01-1.04)) or high disability (OR 1.03 (95 % CI 1.01-1.05)) compared to no/mild disability. Similarly, latitude was related to relapse rate, with increase in latitude of 1 degree associated with increased odds of having more relapses over the previous year (1.01 (1.00-1.02)). We detected significant associations between latitude, deliberate sun exposure and vitamin D supplementation and health outcomes of this large group of people with MS. Vitamin D is likely to have a key role in these associations and its role in the health outcomes of people with MS urgently requires further study.

Timeline

Login to access the full chart related to this output.

If you don’t have an account, click here to discover Explorer

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 20 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
As of 1 July 2024, you may notice a temporary increase in the numbers of X profiles with Unknown location. Click here to learn more.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 179 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Denmark 1 <1%
Canada 1 <1%
Unknown 177 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 29 16%
Student > Master 27 15%
Student > Ph. D. Student 18 10%
Researcher 16 9%
Other 15 8%
Other 31 17%
Unknown 43 24%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 39 22%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 24 13%
Nursing and Health Professions 19 11%
Neuroscience 10 6%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 9 5%
Other 32 18%
Unknown 46 26%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 42. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 August 2023.
All research outputs
#1,044,394
of 26,491,309 outputs
Outputs from BMC Neurology
#54
of 2,790 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#12,402
of 276,335 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Neurology
#1
of 54 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,491,309 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,790 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 276,335 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 54 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.