We noticed this interesting article published by the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville Brain Bank in early 2025. It’s about the occupational histories of 270 people with neuropathologically confirmed multiple system atrophy (MSA). Brain Support Network is proud that a large percent of these 270 brains arrived at the Mayo Clinic due to our efforts in working with MSA families to accomplish brain donation!
The upshot of the research is that some professions are over-represented among those with confirmed MSA, including education, administration, clerical, petroleum industry, metal industry, electrical engineers and electricians, civil or mechanical engineering, etc. The authors “hypothesize that these occupational associations may signify environmental exposures, increasing the disease risk in genetically susceptible individuals.”
The abstract (PubMed ID# 39847196 on PubMed.gov) is below.
Robin
Brain Support Network CEO
Occupational histories in neuropathologically confirmed multiple system atrophy
By William P Cheshire, Philip W Tipton, Shunsuke Koga, Hiroaki Sekiya, Ryan J Uitti, Owen A Ross, Michael G Heckman, Hanna J Sledge, Dennis W Dickson
Purpose: This study examined occupational histories in multiple system atrophy to identify environmental associations of potential relevance to disease causation.
Methods: A total of 270 neuropathologically confirmed cases of multiple system atrophy obtained from the Mayo Clinic Brain Bank for neurodegenerative disorders in Jacksonville, Florida, were included in this case-control study. Demographic and disease information was collected from medical records. Information regarding occupational history was collected retrospectively from medical records and published obituaries. Proportions of employment by occupational sector were compared with US census data.
Results: When comparing patients with US census data, significant differences were identified for education (15.2% versus 2.3%, P < 0.001), administration (14.8% versus 4.1%, P < 0.001), clerical (10.7% versus 5.5%, P = 0.001), petroleum industry (8.9% versus 5.6%, P = 0.024), metal industry (7.8% versus 3.0%, P < 0.001), electrical engineers and electricians (5.6% versus 0.4%, P < 0.001), civil or mechanical engineering (4.4% versus 0.2%, P < 0.001), real estate (4.4% versus 0.7%, P < 0.001), information technology (4.1% versus 1.8%, P = 0.011), woodworking (3.0% versus 0.03%, P < 0.001), writing or publishing (2.6% versus 0.3%, P < 0.001), law (2.2% versus 0.4%, P = 0.001), hairdressing (0.7% versus 0.1%, P = 0.03), and social work (0.7% versus 0.1%, P = 0.03).
Conclusions: The listed occupational categories were significantly overrepresented in our series of patients with multiple system atrophy as compared with population data. We hypothesize that these occupational associations may signify environmental exposures, increasing the disease risk in genetically susceptible individuals. We cannot exclude a potential selection bias in patients willing to donate their brains to an academic center to contribute to scientific knowledge.