ALS incidence and population aging in Northern Italy

Abstract

Objective: Data on and increase of the incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are conflicting and reflect the use of differing populations and designs. We investigated the incidence of ALS using data from a large population-based registry (SLALOM) in two three-year periods using the same diagnostic criteria and equal methods of case ascertainment. Methods: The registry is based in Lombardy, a 10 million population area of Northern Italy. Using different sources of cases (hospital discharge and ambulatory records, regional claims and prescription records) from nine Lombardy provinces (population, 5,485,163), all patients with newly diagnosed ALS during the periods 1998–2000 and 2008–2010 were included. Results: A total of 235 and 440 newly diagnosed patients were traced during the two study periods. The corresponding incidence rates were, respectively, 1.61 and 2.72 per 100,000 person-years. Data varied with age, sex and province by a significant increase was found only in men aged 65 through 74 years. Conclusions: Based on our findings, the increased incidence of ALS with time is real and can be largely interpreted as a reflection of the advancing age of the general population.

Keywords:

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• incidence
• aging
• epidemiology
• trend

Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to all Medical Director officers in Lombardy for the collaboration in data collection activity.

Declaration of interest

Dr. Pupillo, Dr. Bianchi and Dr. Vitelli have nothing to disclose. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Data availability statement

Anonymized data will be shared by request from any qualified investigator.

Additional information

Funding

Dr. Beghi reports grants from Italian Ministry of Health, grants from SOBI, personal fees from Arvelle Therapeutics, grants from American ALS Association, outside the submitted work. The study was supported by the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS.