Dr Alberto Ascherio Addresses Smoking and MS

Alberto Ascherio, MD, DrPh, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School, discusses the current state of knowledge on smoking and multiple sclerosis (MS) risk and the risk of MS progression.

Transcript

What is the current state of knowledge about smoking and MS?

The data on risk are quite compelling. Smokers have about a two-fold higher risk of developing MS than nonsmokers. I mean heavy or regular smokers. The association with MS progression is more complex. Smoking is associated with comorbidities, of course: cardiovascular disease and several other adverse health effects. It seems to accelerate also the progression from relapsing/remitting to progressive MS.