Details:

Alternative Title:
Neurodegener Dis
Personal Author:
Andrew, Angeline S. ; Caller, Tracie A. ; Tandan, Rup ; Duell, Eric J. ; Henegan, Patricia L. ; ... More +
Andrew, Angeline S. ; Caller, Tracie A. ; Tandan, Rup ; Duell, Eric J. ; Henegan, Patricia L. ; Field, Nicholas ; Bradley, Walter G. ; Stommel, Elijah W. Less -
Description:
Background

Recent data provide support for the concept that potentially modifiable exposures are responsible for sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Objective

To evaluate environmental and occupational exposures as risk factors for sporadic ALS.

Methods

We performed a case-control study of ALS among residents of New England. The analysis compared questionnaire responses from 295 patients with a confirmed ALS diagnosis to those of 225 controls without neurodegenerative illness.

Results

Self-reported job or hobby-related exposure to one or more chemicals, such as pesticides, solvents, or heavy metals, increased the risk of ALS (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 2.51 95%CI 1.64–3.89). Industries with higher toxicant exposure potential (construction, manufacturing, mechanical, military, or painting) were associated with elevated occupational risk (adjusted OR 3.95 95%CI 2.04–8.30). We also identified increases in the risk of ALS associated with frequent participation in water sports, particularly water-skiing (adjusted OR 3.89 95%CI 1.97–8.44). Occupation and water-skiing both retained independent statistical significance in a composite model containing age, gender, and smoking status.

Conclusions

Our study contributes to a growing body of literature implicating occupational- and hobby-related toxicant exposures in ALS etiology. These epidemiologic study results also provide motivation for future evaluation of water-body related risk factors.


Subject:
[+]
Aged
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Case-Control Studies
Environmental Exposure
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Occupational Exposure
Risk Factors

Source:
Neurodegener Dis. 17(2-3):110-116.
Pubmed ID:
28122372
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC5383428
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
KL2 TR001088/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States ; R01 TS000245/TS/ATSDR CDC HHS/United States ; UL1 TR001086/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States
KL2 TR001088/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States ; R01 TS000245/TS/ATSDR CDC HHS/United States ; UL1 TR001086/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States Less -
Place as Subject:
New England
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:734379bac424a841d2bb46456d6bcc104768a831fae63a4b7d8e6c16ee9a789d
File Type:

Supporting Files

• 	NIHMS832295-supplement-supplement_1.pdf	pdf
  	nihms832295.nxml	xml

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