Racial and ethnic differences among amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases in the United States

Figures & data

Table I. Demographic characteristics of all reported prevalent ALS cases by race and ethnicity for the period 1 January 2009 through 31 December 2011 in all 11 project sites (n = 5883).

			Race										Ethnicity
	All Cases (n = 5883)		White (n = 4401)		African-American/black (n = 546)		Asian (n = 214)		Other (n = 18)		Unknown (n = 704)		Hispanic (n = 634)		Non-Hispanic (n = 4562)		Unknown (n = 687)
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Age
Under 30 Years	75	1.3	40	0.9	20	3.7	4	1.9	0	0.0	11	1.6	11	1.7	56	1.2	8	1.2
30–39 Years	262	4.5	180	4.1	32	5.9	6	2.8	1	5.6	43	6.1	56	8.8	177	3.9	29	4.2
40–49 Years	746	12.7	511	11.6	103	18.9	31	14.5	1	5.6	100	14.2	102	16.1	567	12.4	77	11.2
50–59 Years	1407	23.9	1034	23.5	147	26.9	56	26.2	3	16.7	167	23.7	165	26.0	1068	23.4	174	25.3
60–69 Years	1698	28.9	1314	29.9	142	26.0	57	26.6	7	38.9	178	25.3	163	25.7	1346	29.5	189	27.5
70–79 Years	1238	21.0	960	21.8	75	13.7	45	21.0	5	27.8	153	21.7	96	15.1	986	21.6	156	22.7
80 Years or older	403	6.8	330	7.5	22	4.0	11	5.1	1	5.6	39	5.5	27	4.3	331	7.3	45	6.6
Unknown	54	0.9	32	0.7	5	0.9	4	1.9	0	0.0	13	1.8	14	2.2	31	0.7	9	1.3
Gender
Male	3322	56.5	2507	57.0	279	51.1	127	59.3	10	55.6	399	56.7	341	53.8	2577	56.5	404	58.8
Female	2561	43.5	1894	43.0	267	48.9	87	40.7	8	44.4	305	43.3	293	46.2	1985	43.5	283	41.2

Table II. Reported El Escorial criteria of all reported prevalent ALS cases by race and ethnicity for the period 1 January 2009 through 31 December 2011 in all 11 project areas (n = 5883).

			Race						Ethnicity
	All Cases^1 (n = 5883)		White (n = 4401)		African-American/black (n = 547)		Asian (n = 214)		Hispanic (n = 634)		Non-Hispanic (n = 4562)
El Escorial criteria classification	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Definite	3069	52.2	2369	53.8	273	49.9	86	40.2	403	63.6	2369	51.9
Probable	1295	22.0	990	22.5	115	21.0	48	22.4	122	19.2	1016	22.3
Probable laboratory- supported	482	8.2	319	7.2	54	9.9	29	13.6	41	6.5	378	8.3
Possible	754	12.8	533	12.1	74	13.5	39	18.2	49	7.7	597	13.1
Not classifiable	283	4.8	190	4.3	30	5.5	12	5.6	19	3.0	202	4.4

¹Includes cases with a reported race of white, African-American/black, Asian, Other or Unknown and a reported ethnicity of Hispanic, Non-Hispanic or Unknown.

Figure 1. Stratified age-adjusted average annual incidence rates for reported ALS cases by race and ethnicity for the period 1 January 2009 through 31 December 2011 in all 11 project areas.

Table III. Time from symptom onset to diagnosis for all reported incident ALS cases by race and ethnicity for the period 1 January 2009 through 31 December 2011 in all 11 project areas (n = 3550).

	Time from symptom onset to diagnosis
	Cases	Mean (months)	50th Percentile (months)	90th Percentile (months)
Race
White	2729	17.0	11.0	36.0
African-American/black	291	15.6	11.0	33.8
Asian	119	20.4	12.0	36.0
Ethnicity
Hispanic	375	16.5	12.0	34.4
Non-Hispanic	2775	16.8	11.0	34.0
Total Cases^1	3550	16.9	11.0	36.0

¹Includes those with Unknown ethnicity, Unknown or Other race; 269 cases were removed due to missing data for symptom onset and diagnosis.

Table IV. Payer type for all reported prevalent ALS cases by race and ethnicity for the period 1 January 2009 through 31 December 2011 in all 11 project areas (n = 5883).

			Race						Ethnicity
	All Cases (n = 5883)		White (n = 4401)		African-American/black (n = 546)		Asian (n = 214)		Hispanic (n = 634)		Non-Hispanic (n = 4562)
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Any Federal Payer^1	3630	61.7	2743	62.3	345	63.1	113	52.8	356	56.2	2905	63.7
No Federal Payer	2188	37.2	1615	36.7	190	34.8	98	45.8	278	43.8	1595	35.0
Unknown	65	1.1	43	1.0	11	2.0	3	1.4	0	0.0	62	1.3

¹Any Federal Payer includes Medicare, Medicaid and VA.