A Method of Trigonometric Modelling of Seasonal Variation Demonstrated with Multiple Sclerosis Relapse DataTim Spelman 1,2, Orla Gray 3, Robyn Lucas 4, Helmut Butzkueven 1,2
1Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, 2Department of Medicine (RMH), The University of Melbourne, 3Department of Neurology, Ulster Hospital, 4National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University
Combining plot analysis with trigonometric regression is a robust method for exploring complex, cyclical phenomena such as relapse onset timing in multiple sclerosis (MS). This method enabled unbiased characterisation of seasonal trends in relapse onset permitting novel inferences around the influence of seasonal variation, ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and latitude.
