Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and sports: a case–control study

Abstract

An increased incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) amongst soccer players in Italy has recently been reported. A case-control study (300 cases and 300 matched controls) was conducted to explore the association between ALS and physical/sports activities, with specific reference to trauma-related risk. Neither the practice of competitive sports nor sports-related traumas were found to be associated with an increased risk of ALS. The practice of physical activities or sports is not per se a risk factor for ALS. Our results exclude sports-related microtraumas as etiopathogenic factors in the natural history of ALS.

Rural environment and risk factors of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a case–control study

“…Recently, Chen and colleagues [7] found an association with repeated head injuries or being injured within 10 years before diagnosis. These results were not supported by other studies [1,9,21,28,32] or by our own, in which the higher percentage of head trauma recorded in patients was also without statistical significance.…”

“…Our results are in keeping with preceding reports showing no relation between smoking and ALS [13,20,28], in contrast with others [1,7,8,10,11,17,19,21,22,26,27,[30][31][32][33][34]. The causal relationship between smoking and the risk of ALS in the aforementioned studies is actually rather unclear, with increasing risk found alternatively in former smokers [19], in current smokers [11,26,31,34] and in women only [34].…”

Head and other physical trauma requiring hospitalisation is not a significant risk factor in the development of ALS

“…The identification of a very high incidence of ALS among Italian professional footballers [12], and American football players [13], has led to speculation over whether head injury through contact with the football is a relevant explanation. There is conflicting evidence of a more general association between physical fitness and the later development of ALS [14][15][16], and it is plausible that a genetic profile which promotes physical prowess in youth may be deleterious to the ageing motor system [17], rather than exercise per se being detrimental to those at risk for another reason.…”

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Mortality in the United States, 1979–2001

“…However, the etiology of sporadic ALS remains unknown. Many hypotheses on the etiology of ALS have been offered, including exogenous environmental neurotoxins [2][3][4][5][6][7] , heavy metals [8][9][10] , dietary factors [9,[11][12][13][14] , physical exertion or trauma [15,16] , and genetic factors [17,18] . However, the large number of epidemiologic and laboratory studies of ALS have not consistently supported particular causative external factors for development of the disease.…”