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Endocrine Abstracts (2016) 44 P41 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.44.P41

1Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; 2Institute of Human Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland; 3Department of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Internal Medicine, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.


Background: The pathogenesis of autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD) remains incompletely understood, but it is thought to be due to interplay between genetic, immune and environmental factors. A month of birth effect, with increased risk amongst those born in autumn and winter months, have been described in autoimmune conditions such as type 1 diabetes and autoimmune thyroid disease.

Aim: To investigate month of birth effect in two independent cohorts of patients with AAD.

Methodology: The monthly distribution of birth in AAD patients was compared to that of the general population using the Cosinor test. Month- by-month variation was screened for using X2, with odds ratios and 95% CI calculated, to compare the birth rates for each month in subjects with AAD and the control population; 415 AAD subjects from the UK cohort were compared with 8,180,180 UK births; 231 AAD subjects from the Polish cohort were compared with 2,421,385 Polish births.

Results: In the entire cohort of AAD subjects, month of birth distribution analysis showed significant periodicity with peak of births in December and trough in May (P=0.028). Analysis of the odds ratio distribution based on month of birth in two cohorts of patients with AAD vs the general population revealed December peak and May trough, and January peak and July through, in the UK and Polish cohorts respectively.

Conclusions: We demonstrate that month of birth exerts an effect on the risk of developing AAD, with excess risk in individuals born in winter months and a protective effects when born in the summer. Exposure to seasonal viral infections in the per-natal period, coupled with vitamin D deficiency, could lead to dysregulation of innate immunity affecting the risk of developing AAD.

Volume 44

Society for Endocrinology BES 2016

Brighton, UK
07 Nov 2016 - 09 Nov 2016

Society for Endocrinology 

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