Abstract
Aim: Obesity is an important risk factor of multiple sclerosis particularly in younger age. Many studies reported an association between elevated body mass index (BMI) and development of MS especially in teenagers and adolescents. As obesity is a major health problem in Saudi Arabia, an elevated risk of multiple sclerosis is expected. This study aimed to evaluate the association between elevated body mass index and multiple sclerosis. Material and Method: This case-control study included 231 participants aged = 17 years old, of them 77 cases were multiple sclerosis and 154 controls. Patients previously diagnosed with MS or had no medical records were excluded. Controls had no MS or any related neurological symptoms and selected from outpatients' clinics. Data were collected from hospital records regarding demographics and BMI. Results: The majority of the participants aged 21-40 years old. About 30% of them were 21-30 years old and 35% were 31-40 years old. Regarding BMI categorization of the respondents 51.5% had an elevated BMI, while 112 (48.5%) had a normal BMI. Findings of the binary logistic regression model showed an increased risk of multiple sclerosis by 2.3 times among participants with an elevated BMI than those with normal BMI (p value = 0.005, OR: 2.28, 95% CI=1.289 to 4.019). Discussion: As multiple sclerosis has been linked to genetic factors, an assessment of the presence of such association in different populations are meaningful. The cross-sectional approach is defective in the assessment of association, thus a retrospective analytical approach with the case-control study was the most appropriate design. Conclusions: There was a significant association between BMI and the occurrence of multiple sclerosis, the risk is doubled among overweight or obese people in Saudi Arabia in comparison to normal or underweight people.