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The relationship of indoor radon gas concentration with multiple sclerosis: a case-control study

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Abstract

This case-control study aimed to investigate the relationship of indoor radon gas concentration and residential building characteristics with mental health with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Yazd City, Iran. The participants included 45 patients with MS and 100 healthy individuals. The participants’ socio-economic status and residential building characteristics were investigated using a questionnaire. The radon gas concentration was also measured by CR-39 detectors over a 6-month period. Furthermore, the participants’ mental health data were collected using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). The mean concentrations of radon gas were 66.77 and 65.33 Bq/m3 in the homes of patients with MS and healthy individuals, respectively, but the difference was not significant (p = 0.882). However, the radon gas concentration had a significant relationship with the building’s age (p = 0.038), ventilation (p = 0.053), and cooling system (p = 0.021). A significant difference was observed between the two study groups in terms of the mental health (p = 0.018), depression (p = 0.037), somatic symptoms (p ≤ 0.001), and physical activity (p = 0.030). Since the indoor radon gas concentration did not have any significant relationship with MS prevalence, more studies are required in this regard, especially in long-term exposure.

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Acknowledgments

We express our deepest appreciation to all the professors of Public Health School in Yazd Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences. Furthermore, we thank all the respectable participants who cooperated in this study.

Funding

This study was funded by Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Science and Technology Research Center, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

    Zeynab Abaszadeh Fathabadi, Mohamad Hassan Ehrampoush, Mehdi Mokhtari, Monire Fallah Yakhdani & Ali Asghar Ebrahimi

  2. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

    Masuod Mirzaei & Arefeh Dehghani Tafti

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

    Mohamad Nadi Sakhvidi

  4. Department of Neurology, Medical School, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

    Abolghasem Rahimdel

  5. Yazd Multiple Sclerosis Society, Shahid Sadoughi Hospital, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

    Atefe Atefi

  6. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran

    Hadi Eslami

Authors
  1. Zeynab Abaszadeh Fathabadi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ali Asghar Ebrahimi.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

Signed informed consent forms were obtained from all participants. Furthermore, this study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Public Health School in Yazd Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Iran (IR.SSU.SPH.REC.1396.34).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Abaszadeh Fathabadi, Z., Ehrampoush, M.H., Mirzaei, M. et al. The relationship of indoor radon gas concentration with multiple sclerosis: a case-control study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 16350–16361 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08147-y

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