Trauma as an etiologic and aggravating factor in multiple sclerosis.

We carried out a retrospective and prospective epidemiologic study designed to detect an association between trauma and multiple sclerosis in 130 patients and 82 age- and sex-matched controls. Electrical injury was followed by an increased frequency of exacerbation, which did not achieve statistical significance. There was no statistically significant association between other types of trauma and onset or deterioration of the disease. These findings do not prove that such an association cannot exist for any one individual patient; however, they do not provide evidence to support this idea.