Geographical clustering of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in South-East England: a population study.
BACKGROUND: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative disease of motor neurons that causes progressive paralysis and eventually results in death from respiratory failure. Environmental factors that trigger ALS might result in a pattern of geographical clustering of cases. We tested this...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2009
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| _version_ | 1797098348990169088 |
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| author | Scott, K Abhinav, K Stanton, B Johnston, C Turner, M Ampong, M Sakel, M Orrell, R Howard, R Shaw, C Leigh, P Al-Chalabi, A |
| author_facet | Scott, K Abhinav, K Stanton, B Johnston, C Turner, M Ampong, M Sakel, M Orrell, R Howard, R Shaw, C Leigh, P Al-Chalabi, A |
| author_sort | Scott, K |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | BACKGROUND: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative disease of motor neurons that causes progressive paralysis and eventually results in death from respiratory failure. Environmental factors that trigger ALS might result in a pattern of geographical clustering of cases. We tested this hypothesis using the South-East England ALS population register, which covers south-east London, Kent and parts of neighbouring counties. METHODS: The register's catchment area was divided into postcode districts and sectors. The expected rates of ALS (adjusted for age and sex) were compared with the observed rates using a standardised residuals method and the SaTScan programme. RESULTS: There were 406 cases of ALS identified in the catchment area during the study period. Four of the 126 postcode districts, all in Greater London, had residuals >2.5 SDs from the mean. Similarly, there were 15 postcode sectors (out of 420) that had residuals >1.96 SDs from the mean. Nine of these were in Greater London. SaTScan identified an area that had a 5.61-km radius in which the relative risk of ALS was 1.70 (p = 0.012). This area overlapped with the postcode districts and some of the sectors identified using the residuals method. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest an excess of ALS cases in some postcode districts in south-east England. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:08:14Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:daa94813-b30d-47f7-a156-31a27ab11c38 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:08:14Z |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:daa94813-b30d-47f7-a156-31a27ab11c382022-03-27T09:04:51ZGeographical clustering of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in South-East England: a population study.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:daa94813-b30d-47f7-a156-31a27ab11c38EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2009Scott, KAbhinav, KStanton, BJohnston, CTurner, MAmpong, MSakel, MOrrell, RHoward, RShaw, CLeigh, PAl-Chalabi, ABACKGROUND: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative disease of motor neurons that causes progressive paralysis and eventually results in death from respiratory failure. Environmental factors that trigger ALS might result in a pattern of geographical clustering of cases. We tested this hypothesis using the South-East England ALS population register, which covers south-east London, Kent and parts of neighbouring counties. METHODS: The register's catchment area was divided into postcode districts and sectors. The expected rates of ALS (adjusted for age and sex) were compared with the observed rates using a standardised residuals method and the SaTScan programme. RESULTS: There were 406 cases of ALS identified in the catchment area during the study period. Four of the 126 postcode districts, all in Greater London, had residuals >2.5 SDs from the mean. Similarly, there were 15 postcode sectors (out of 420) that had residuals >1.96 SDs from the mean. Nine of these were in Greater London. SaTScan identified an area that had a 5.61-km radius in which the relative risk of ALS was 1.70 (p = 0.012). This area overlapped with the postcode districts and some of the sectors identified using the residuals method. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest an excess of ALS cases in some postcode districts in south-east England. |
| spellingShingle | Scott, K Abhinav, K Stanton, B Johnston, C Turner, M Ampong, M Sakel, M Orrell, R Howard, R Shaw, C Leigh, P Al-Chalabi, A Geographical clustering of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in South-East England: a population study. |
| title | Geographical clustering of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in South-East England: a population study. |
| title_full | Geographical clustering of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in South-East England: a population study. |
| title_fullStr | Geographical clustering of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in South-East England: a population study. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Geographical clustering of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in South-East England: a population study. |
| title_short | Geographical clustering of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in South-East England: a population study. |
| title_sort | geographical clustering of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in south east england a population study |
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