AIMS: The association of trauma and physical activity with ALS is controversial. We explored the relation in a pilot case-control study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: ALS patients were selected from a university muscle disease clinic and paired with two matched controls: one from the clinic, but having different diseases, and one from the community. RESULTS: We found several strong and statistically significant differences between ALS cases and the matched controls. These included severe head, neck and back injury (OR = 5.3), the frequency of sweating in work (OR = 1.6) or leisure activity (also OR = 1.6), and earning a school letter (OR = 3.1). Other measures of trauma and activity, while not achieving statistical significance (p < 0.05), were in accord with these findings. DISCUSSION: Possible explanations include trauma and vigorous exercise precipitating ALS; trauma as an early sign of disease; or a third factor associated with ALS predisposing to injury. CONCLUSIONS: Severe head, neck, and back injury and frequency of sweating both in work and leisure activity showed a strong association with ALS. Further study could test narrower and less common exposures with greater statistical power.
AIMS: The association of trauma and physical activity with ALS is controversial. We explored the relation in a pilot case-control study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: ALS patients were selected from a university muscle disease clinic and paired with two matched controls: one from the clinic, but having different diseases, and one from the community. RESULTS: We found several strong and statistically significant differences between ALS cases and the matched controls. These included severe head, neck and back injury (OR = 5.3), the frequency of sweating in work (OR = 1.6) or leisure activity (also OR = 1.6), and earning a school letter (OR = 3.1). Other measures of trauma and activity, while not achieving statistical significance (p < 0.05), were in accord with these findings. DISCUSSION: Possible explanations include trauma and vigorous exercise precipitating ALS; trauma as an early sign of disease; or a third factor associated with ALS predisposing to injury. CONCLUSIONS: Severe head, neck, and back injury and frequency of sweating both in work and leisure activity showed a strong association with ALS. Further study could test narrower and less common exposures with greater statistical power.
Authors: Ann C McKee; Brandon E Gavett; Robert A Stern; Christopher J Nowinski; Robert C Cantu; Neil W Kowall; Daniel P Perl; E Tessa Hedley-Whyte; Bruce Price; Chris Sullivan; Peter Morin; Hyo-Soon Lee; Caroline A Kubilus; Daniel H Daneshvar; Megan Wulff; Andrew E Budson Journal: J Neuropathol Exp Neurol Date: 2010-09 Impact factor: 3.685
Authors: Isabel Carreras; Sinan Yuruker; Nurgul Aytan; Lokman Hossain; Ji-Kyung Choi; Bruce G Jenkins; Neil W Kowall; Alpaslan Dedeoglu Journal: Brain Res Date: 2009-12-05 Impact factor: 3.252
Authors: Colin K Franz; Eric T Quach; Christina A Krudy; Thais Federici; Michele A Kliem; Brooke R Snyder; Bethwel Raore; Nicholas M Boulis Journal: PLoS One Date: 2009-10-06 Impact factor: 3.240