Seroprevalence of anti-Toxocara antibody among multiple sclerosis patients: a case–control study

Khalili, Nastaran; Nickhah, Ali; Khalili, Bahman

doi:10.1007/s12639-019-01174-8

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Therefore, six studies [ 20 , 39 , 40 , 48 , 49 , 50 ] qualified and were, ultimately, included in the meta-analysis ( Figure 1 ). Five studies were original papers, published in peer-reviewed journals, and one [ 49 ] was a conference paper. These studies had a case–control design, were from Iran ( n = 4), Italy ( n = 1) and Turkey ( n = 1), and were published between 2006 and 2020 ( Table 1 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the effect of one study (reported in a conference paper) on our estimated OR; this analysis showed that, after removing this study [ 49 ], the association was still significant (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.2–5.6; I 2 = 43.2; 95% CI, −53.8 to 78.40; Q-value = 7.05) ( Figure S1 ). In one of the six studies included [ 49 ], based on the proportion of anti- Toxocara sero-positive patients, women were significantly associated with developing MS. For two [ 20 , 40 ] of the six studies, there was no significant difference in gender between the MS patient- and healthy control groups. Employing the Egger’s regression test, a significant publication bias was found in the studies included here ( t -value = 3.53, p -value = 0.02; Figure S2 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The following are available online at . Figure S1: Forest plot for sensitivity analysis (after removing of study by Khalilidehkordi et al [ 49 ], which was a conference paper) pooled with random-effects regarding the association between Toxocara infection/exposure (assessed by anti- Toxocara IgG serum antibody detection) and multiple sclerosis (MS), showing the odd ratio (OR) and a 95% confidence interval (CI). Figure S2: Publication bias, calculated using an Egger’s plot.…”

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confidence: 99%

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“Begging the Question”—Does Toxocara Infection/Exposure Associate with Multiple Sclerosis-Risk?

et al. 2020

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Although the cause of multiple sclerosis (MS) is unclear, infectious agents, including some parasitic roundworms (nematodes), have been proposed as possible risk factors or contributors. Here, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published observational studies to evaluate whether there is a possible association between infection with, or exposure to, one or more members of the genus Toxocara (phylum Nematoda; superfamily Ascaridoidea) and MS. We undertook a search of public literature databases to identify relevant studies and then used a random-effects meta-analysis model to generate the pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). This search identified six of a total of 1371 articles that were relevant to the topic; these published studies involved totals of 473 MS patients and 647 control subjects. Anti-Toxocara IgG serum antibodies were detected in 62 MS patients and 37 controls, resulting in respective seroprevalences of 13.1% (95% CI: 8.2–20.3) and 4.8% (95% CI: 2.5–9.2), indicating an association (pooled OR, 3.01; 95% CI: 1.46–6.21). Because of the publication bias identified (six eligible studies), well-designed and -controlled studies are required in the future to rigorously test the hypothesis that Toxocara infection/exposure has an association with MS.

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