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Abstract
Our objective was to determine the age-specific incidence and clinical-epidemiological characteristics of an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) cohort of patients in Catalonia (Spain). New cases diagnosed between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013 were 41 (20 males and 21 females), with an annual crude incidence rate of 2.7 per 100,000 person-years (95% CI 1.90–3.59). The incidence rate increased with age reaching a peak in the age group of 70–79 years. There was a non-significant decrease in the incidence rate in the group of patients over 80 years (p-value = 0.75) at 17.99 per 100,000 person years (95% CI 7.81–28.17). The percentage of patients over 80 years of age was 29.3% and over age 85 years was 9.8%. The prevalence rate at the end of the study period was 8.38/100,000 of the total population. Mean age at symptom onset was 76.0 years. Onset of symptoms was bulbar or generalized in 36.6% of cases. In conclusion, ALS incidence in Osona is within the range of other countries across Europe. Our results suggest that the age-specific incidence rate of ALS increases with age through the oldest age groups suggesting an age-risk effect to develop the disease.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a research grant from Fundació La Marató de TV3 201437.10, research grant from Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS) PI15/01618 and by the European Community's Health Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013; grant agreement number 259867). This is an EU Joint Programme - Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) project (STRENGTH, ALS-CarE). The project is supported through the following funding organisations under the aegis of JPND - http://www.jpnd.eu (United Kingdom, Medical Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council). AAC receives salary support from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Dementia Biomedical Research Unit at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London.