TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental and Occupational Risk Factors of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
T2 - A Population-Based Case-Control Study
AU - Filippini, Tommaso
AU - Tesauro, Marina
AU - Fiore, Maria
AU - Malagoli, Carlotta
AU - Consonni, Michela
AU - Violi, Federica
AU - Iacuzio, Laura
AU - Arcolin, Elisa
AU - Oliveri Conti, Gea
AU - Cristaldi, Antonio
AU - Zuccarello, Pietro
AU - Zucchi, Elisabetta
AU - Mazzini, Letizia
AU - Pisano, Fabrizio
AU - Gagliardi, Ileana
AU - Patti, Francesco
AU - Mandrioli, Jessica
AU - Ferrante, Margherita
AU - Vinceti, Marco
PY - 2020/4/22
Y1 - 2020/4/22
N2 - Objectives: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease with still unknown etiology. We aimed at investigating the association between environmental and occupational factors with ALS risk. Methods: We performed a population-based case-control study in four Italian provinces (Catania, Modena, Novara, and Reggio Emilia) by administration of tailored questionnaires to ALS cases (n = 95) and randomly selected population referents (n = 135). We estimated ALS risk by calculating the odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) using an unconditional logistic regression model. Results: We found a positive association with disease risk for history of occupation in the agricultural sector (OR = 2.09, 95% CI 0.79-7.54), especially for longer than 10 years (OR = 2.72, 95% 1.02-7.20). Overall occupational exposure to solvents also suggested a positive association, especially for thinners (OR = 2.27, 95% CI 1.14-4.54) and paint removers (OR = 2.01, 95% CI 0.90-4.48). Both occupational and environmental exposure to electromagnetic fields show a slightly increased risk with OR = 1.69 (95% CI 0.70-4.09) and 2.41 (95% CI 1.13-5.12), respectively. Occupational but not environmental exposure to pesticides (OR = 1.22, 95% CI 0.63-2.37), particularly fungicides, and exposure to metals (OR = 4.20, 95% CI 1.88-9.38), particularly lead, mercury, and selenium, showed an imprecise but positive association. Finally, there was an indication of increased risk for living in proximity to water bodies. Conclusions: Despite the caution that needs to be used due to some study limitations, such as the low number of exposed subjects and the possibility of recall bias, these results suggest the potential role of some environmental and occupational factors in ALS etiology.
AB - Objectives: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease with still unknown etiology. We aimed at investigating the association between environmental and occupational factors with ALS risk. Methods: We performed a population-based case-control study in four Italian provinces (Catania, Modena, Novara, and Reggio Emilia) by administration of tailored questionnaires to ALS cases (n = 95) and randomly selected population referents (n = 135). We estimated ALS risk by calculating the odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) using an unconditional logistic regression model. Results: We found a positive association with disease risk for history of occupation in the agricultural sector (OR = 2.09, 95% CI 0.79-7.54), especially for longer than 10 years (OR = 2.72, 95% 1.02-7.20). Overall occupational exposure to solvents also suggested a positive association, especially for thinners (OR = 2.27, 95% CI 1.14-4.54) and paint removers (OR = 2.01, 95% CI 0.90-4.48). Both occupational and environmental exposure to electromagnetic fields show a slightly increased risk with OR = 1.69 (95% CI 0.70-4.09) and 2.41 (95% CI 1.13-5.12), respectively. Occupational but not environmental exposure to pesticides (OR = 1.22, 95% CI 0.63-2.37), particularly fungicides, and exposure to metals (OR = 4.20, 95% CI 1.88-9.38), particularly lead, mercury, and selenium, showed an imprecise but positive association. Finally, there was an indication of increased risk for living in proximity to water bodies. Conclusions: Despite the caution that needs to be used due to some study limitations, such as the low number of exposed subjects and the possibility of recall bias, these results suggest the potential role of some environmental and occupational factors in ALS etiology.
KW - Aged
KW - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/epidemiology
KW - Case-Control Studies
KW - Female
KW - Humans
KW - Italy
KW - Male
KW - Middle Aged
KW - Neurodegenerative Diseases
KW - Occupational Exposure
KW - Risk Factors
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph17082882
DO - 10.3390/ijerph17082882
M3 - Article
C2 - 32331298
VL - 17
JO - Int J Environ Res Public Health
JF - Int J Environ Res Public Health
SN - 1660-4601
IS - 8
ER -