ArticleMultiple sclerosis and related disorders2023
Characterizing causal relationships of visceral fat and body shape on multiple sclerosis risk.
Article in Multiple sclerosis and related disorders, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of regional adiposity distribution with risk of autoimmune diseases.Clinical rheumatology · 2025Article
- Observational and genetic evidence highlight the association of modifiable risk factors with the incidence and severity of neuroimmunological disorders.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- The obesity pandemic and its impact on non-communicable disease burden.Pflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology · 2025Review
- Adaptive and Innate Immunity Are Key Drivers of Age at Onset of Multiple Sclerosis.Neurology. Genetics · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEpidemiologic studies have established obesity as a risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS). These studies relied on body-mass index (BMI) and body size silhouettes as the primary measures of obesity. Unfortunately, the causal mechanisms through which obesity confers MS risk are not yet known.
objectivesTo investigate the causal effects of multiple specific measures of body fat on MS risk in populations of European descent, using Mendelian randomization (MR).
methodsMR is a genetic instrumental variable analysis utilizing genome-wide association (GWA) summary statistics to infer causality between phenotypes. MR analyses were performed to investigate the relationships between seven measures of body fat (BMI, waist-hip ratio, visceral adipose tissue [VAT], subcutaneous adipose tissue, and arm-, leg-, and trunk-fat to total body fat ratio) and MS risk.
resultsOnly BMI and VAT were significantly associated with MS risk in separate MR analyses (β
conclusionsBMI and VAT were causally associated with MS risk in European populations, though their effects do not appear independent, suggesting overlap in the role of overall body mass and visceral obesity in MS pathogenesis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.