ALS, or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their demise. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, people may lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe.
Literature survey suggests that people between the ages of 40 and 70 are likely to develop ALS, with an average age of 55 at the time of diagnosis. However, cases of the disease do occur in persons in their twenties and thirties. With increasing age, the incidence of ALS is equal between men and women.
A nationwide survey study was conducted by Doi et al. in 2013 of ALS frequency to estimate its annual prevalence and incidence in Japan, titled “Prevalence and Incidence of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Japan”. The study showed that the annual crude prevalence and incidence rates per 100 000 people per year were 9.9 and 2.2, respectively. The age group with the highest prevalence as well as incidence was 70–79 years, and the male-female ratio was approximately 1.5.
As per findings from secondary domain, males are most commonly affected in case of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis epidemiology. As per the data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the estimated prevalence of ALS in 2015 was 5.2 per 100,000 population, which is similar to that in 2014. The lowest prevalence was among persons aged 18–39 years and the highest was among persons aged 70–79 years.
There are two different types of ALS, sporadic and familial. In Sporadic, the disease occurs at random with no associated risk factors and no family history of the disease. Familial ALS means the disease is inherited. In those families, there is a 50% chance each offspring will inherit the gene mutation and may develop the disease. Based on the two types of ALS, Sporadic Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment constitutes the vast majority of cases, while the remaining are hereditary and termed familial ALS.
According to the ALS Association (USA), sporadic, which is the most common form of the disease in the US, accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all cases. It may affect anyone, anywhere. Familial ALS (FALS) accounts for 5 to 10 percent of all cases in the U.S. Familial ALS means the disease is inherited. In those families, there is a 50% chance each offspring will inherit the gene mutation and may develop the disease