Incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Europe

Geographical differences in the incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have been reported in the literature but comparisons across previous studies are limited by different methods in case ascertainment and by the relatively small size of the studied populations. To address these issues, the authors undertook a pooled analysis of European population based ALS registries.

All new incident ALS cases in subjects aged 18 years old and older were identified prospectively in six population based registries in three European countries (Ireland, UK and Italy) in the 2 year period 1998-1999, with a reference population of almost 24 million.