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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that affects motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord leading to weakness. Patients typically become paralyzed and die as a result of respiratory failure. The disease is clinically heterogeneous and can occur at any adult age. Survival varies from months to more than 10 years. About 15% of patients develop frontotemporal dementia. Prediction of survival in individual patients remains elusive despite the well documented natural history of ALS.
In this study, researchers obtained data from 14 specialized ALS centers in Europe. Patients were diagnosed with ALS using the revised El Escorial criteria. Sixteen patient characteristics were assessed as predictors of sur…