| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
a Department of Neurology, Royal Preston
Hospital, Sharoe Green Lane, Fulwood, Preston, UK, b Department of Geography, c Centre for Applied Statistics, University of Lancaster,
Lancaster, UK
Correspondence to: Professor J D Mitchell, Department of Neurology, Royal Preston Hospital, Sharoe Green Lane, Fulwood, Preston, PR2 9HT, UK. Telephone 0044 1772 710423, fax 0044 1772 718746.
Received 10 September 1997 and in revised form 3 July 1998;
Accepted 24 July 1998
OBJECTIVES
To seek objective evidence for
geographical clustering of places of residence of patients with motor
neuron disease (MND).
METHODSA complete residential history from
birth to onset of disease was obtained from a cohort of 130 patients with MND from Lancashire and south Cumbria presenting to the
Department of Neurology in Preston between 1 January 1989 and 31 December 1993. These data were compared with population based
reference data from the 1991 UK Census.
RESULTSSome areal units showed a greater, others
a lesser, number of MND patient residences than expected. The results
suggest that the background population incidence of MND is relatively
low and that the overall incidence figures previously quoted have been skewed upwards by areas in which the incidence of MND is relatively increased. These findings were further tested by Poisson modelling. The
Poisson model provided a poor fit for the data at postcode district and
sector levels confirming that patients with MND were significantly more
likely to have lived in some areas than others after allowing for
variation in population of the different areal units and for variation
in duration of residence.
CONCLUSIONSThese findings reinforce the results
of previous work, much of which has been qualitative rather than
quantitative. The results presented here suggest a low background
incidence of MND in the context of generally quoted overall incidence
figures. This low background incidence is, however, skewed upwards by
some areal units with a relatively high incidence, thus achieving
overall incidence rates comparable with generally quoted figures. We
conclude that there is prima facie evidence of spatial patterns in the distribution of places of residence of patients with MND. Further examination of occupational and environmental factors in the lives of
the patients with MND is required to obtain a better understanding of
the importance of these findings.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  G Logroscino, B J Traynor, O Hardiman, A Chio', P Couratier, J D Mitchell, R J Swingler, E Beghi, and for EURALS Descriptive epidemiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: new evidence and unsolved issues J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, January 1, 2008; 79(1): 6 - 11. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Cronin, O. Hardiman, and B. J. Traynor Ethnic variation in the incidence of ALS: A systematic review Neurology, March 27, 2007; 68(13): 1002 - 1007. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C. E. Sabel, P. J. Boyle, M. Loytonen, A. C. Gatrell, M. Jokelainen, R. Flowerdew, and P. Maasilta Spatial Clustering of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Finland at Place of Birth and Place of Death Am. J. Epidemiol., May 15, 2003; 157(10): 898 - 905. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
