Clinical and epidemiological features of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in eastern Turkey

Abstract

Aim:The number of studies on the epidemiological and clinical data of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients in Turkey is quite low and the studies on this subject reflect the data of western regions of Turkey. In this study, we aimed to present the demographic, clinical and mortality features of ALS patients diagnosed in the last 10 years in a large reference hospital in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. Material and Method: 42 ALS patients diagnosed between January 2011 and January 2021 in Atatürk University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology were included in the study. The data of the patients were obtained by retrospectively scanning the patient electronic files registered in the database of our hospital. The age, gender, examination findings, clinical course, treatments they received and the cause of death of the patients were recorded. Results: 26 of ALS patients were men and 16 were women. The mean age of onset was 53.4±12.3 and the mean diagnostic delay was 13.6±6.9 months. 64.2% of the patients had onset in the spinal region, and 35.7% in the bulbar region. Weakness/atrophy of the upper extremity muscles and swallowing difficulty were the most common onset symptoms. All ALS patients were using riluzole. 11 ALS patients died. The mean time between diagnosis and death in patients who died was 27.2±18.6 months. The most common causes of death in ALS patients were pneumonia and sepsis. Conclusion: Age of onset of ALS was low in our patients. The number of patients in the clinically definite ALS group was the highest. Weakness/atrophy of the upper extremity muscles and swallowing difficulty were the most common onset symptoms. Approximately 2/3 of the patients had spinal, and 1/3 bulbar region onset. There was no significant difference between spinal and bulbar onset patients in terms of gender, age of disease onset, mortality, and life expectancy of patients with death. The rate of using riluzole was high. The most common causes of death in ALS patients were pneumonia and sepsis.