Epidemiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients in a centre in Buenos Aires

Abstract

Sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS) is considered a multifactorial disease with genetic and environmental factors causing motor neuron degeneration. Objective: To describe the epidemiological and occupational characteristics of patients with sALS who attended the Ramos Mejía Hospital at Buenos Aires, Argentina. Method: We analyzed the medical records of sALS patients diagnosed between 2001 and 2008. All occupations were coded according to the International Standard Classification of Occupation (ISCO). Results: 187 patients were assessed, 38.5% were women and 61.5% men. Mean age at diagnosis was 55 years. 16% of them came from rural areas; 68% of the studied population had no health insurance. 40% were employed in elementary occupations, 19 were technicians and 8 handicraftsmen. Conclusion: The most represented profession was elementary occupation. A large proportion of patients came from rural areas, which might suggest an increased risk of environmental exposure to an unknown agent in those regions.

Riluzole and Prognostic Factors in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Long-term and Short-term Survival: A Population-Based Study of 1149 Cases in Taiwan

“…Mean age at ALS diagnosis was 56.27 years, which was higher than that among Hispanics (47.5), 12 Argentineans (55), 13 and cohorts in India (46.2), 14 but lower than in Japan (64.8). 15 Mean/median survival time for ALS in Taiwan (67.8/66.6 months) was similar to that in Hispanics 12 (mean = 68.6 months), higher than that in Italians (median = 16 months) 16 and Irish (median = 16.4), 17 and lower than that reported in Indians (median = 114.8 months).…”

Variation in worldwide incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a meta-analysis

“…For example, studies based on the original EEDC included all categories of ALS (Definite, Probable, Possible, Suspected), n = 12, 3 , 39 , 40 , 42–45 , 48 , 51 , 53 , 66 or excluded cases who, during follow-up, remained suspected ALS ( n = 4) 4,37,38,54 or suspected/possible ALS ( n = 2) 6 , 59 . Conversely, most papers that used the revised version of EEDC included all types of ALS (Definite, Probable, Probable laboratory supported, Possible) ( n = 13), 8–14 , 46 , 47 , 50 , 57 , 64 and only one excluded cases with possible ALS during follow-up ( n = 1) 121 . However, when looking at standardized rates (i.e when controlling for age and sex distribution of the underlying population), ALS heterogeneity was not explained by the diagnosis ( P = 0.51).…”

Prevalence, Incidence, and Clinical-Epidemiological Characterization of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Antioquia: Colombia

“…In an American study using capture-recapture method, only considering patients with definite ALS, the estimated prevalence was set 4.7 and 5.0/100,000 in 2012 and 2013 respectively [16], results very similar to ours. Prevalence in Latin America countries ranges from 0.9 to 8.86/100,000 inhabitants [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. However, there are significant methodological differences (e.g., some studies used a different diagnostic category for cases se-lection).…”