GENEVA (Genes and Environment in Veterans with ALS) Reports that ALS risk was greater among US military veterans deployed to the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War prompted the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a National Registry of Veterans with ALS. The registry, established in 2004, enrolled 1,573 US veterans with neurologist-confirmed ALS. Information in the VA Registry includes ALS diagnosis and other clinical details and mortality ascertained through July 31, 2013. GENEVA is a case-control study of 631 ALS cases from the VA registry and 975 matched veteran controls. Information is available on demographics, lifestyle, lifetime occupational history, hobbies, home pesticide use, medical history, and family history of ALS. Our initial studies in GENEVA focused on military service, deployment, and exposures. We found that ALS risk was similar among veterans of the Air Force, Army, Marines, and Navy. Risk was lower among officers and higher among veterans whose longest deployment was World War II or the Korean War. ALS was positively associated with exposure to herbicides for military purposes, nasopharyngeal radium, exhaust from heaters or generators, high-intensity radar waves, explosions within one mile, herbicides in the field, mixing and application of burning agents, burning agents in the field, and Agent Orange in the field, with odds ratios between 1.50 and 7.75. These results provide clues to potential causal factors underlying the apparent increase of ALS in veteran populations. We also evaluated associations between military factors and ALS survival. We observed 446 deaths (median follow-up 28 months, 24,267 person-months). Survival was shorter among cases who served before 1950, who were deployed to World War II, or who mixed and applied burning agents. Most military-related factors were not associated with ALS survival. Suggestions that ALS survival may be shortened by certain exposures may be important given the large number of US military veterans, but they are novel and require confirmation. ALS may be associated with low body mass index (BMI) at the time of diagnosis, but the role of premorbid BMI and weight change in the development of ALS and survival after diagnosis is not clear. We evaluated the association of BMI and BMI change at different ages with ALS risk. Compared to a moderate increase in BMI between age 25 and 40, stable or decreasing BMI was associated with a 60% increase in ALS risk. Greater BMI at age 40 but not age 25 decreased ALS risk. Associations were similar between bulbar and spinal ALS but stronger for those with <1 year between symptom onset and diagnosis. We found no association between pre-diagnostic BMI or BMI change and survival. A decreasing BMI from early to middle age and a low BMI in middle age may be positively associated with ALS risk. In an add-on study, Veterans with ALS and Lead Exposure (VALE), we evaluated the relationship of blood metals to ALS using 163 ALS cases from the VA Registry and 229 controls from GENEVA. We measured lead and other metals with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and evaluated bone turnover using biomarkers of bone formation (PINP) and resorption (CTX). In initial analyses of lead, we found that lead was higher among cases than controls. CTX was also greater in cases than controls, but PINP was the same. Each doubling of lead was associated with a 2.6-fold increase in ALS risk regardless of adjustment for bone turnover. These results corroborate our earlier finding that elevated blood lead is associated with increased ALS risk and suggest that increased bone turnover in ALS cases does not fully explain this association. We also evaluated whether lead and bone turnover were associated with changes in survival after ALS diagnosis. A doubling of lead was associated with a 1.4-fold increase, a doubling of CTX with a 2.0-fold increase, and a doubling of PINP with a 0.41-fold decrease in risk of death. Higher blood lead level and greater bone turnover may be related to shorter ALS survival. We examined associations of ALS with selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn). Both Se and Zn reduced ALS risk by 60%; the associations were stronger among patients with worse function. Cu was associated with a 3.4-fold increase in ALS risk, but there was no clear cut relationship of ALS with Mn. Adjustment for lead levels attenuated the positive association of ALS with Cu but did not change associations with Se, Zn, or Mn. Thus deficiencies of Se and Zn and excess Cu may have a role in ALS etiology. Presently we are evaluating the role of these four trace metals in ALS survival. A complete occupational history was collected from GENEVA participants. Susan Woskie, an industrial hygienist, and a team of specialists used these histories to assign exposures to several agents of interest, all of which have been implicated in ALS by one or more studies but none conclusively. These exposures include lead, mercury, selenium, arsenic, PCBs, hydrocarbon solvents, chlorinated solvents, formaldehyde, EMF, and viral agents. We plan to use this information for studies of ALS risk and survival. Swedish National Registers I collaborate with Fang Fang and Weimin Ye at the Karolinska Institute on studies based on the Swedish National Registers. We studied associations of ALS risk with specific occupations and occupational exposures in a nested case-control study, comparing 5020 ALS patients diagnosed during 19912010 with 25,100 matched controls. We obtained occupational history from the Swedish censuses in 1970, 1980 and 1990 and used a job exposure matrix to identify exposures related to individual occupations. Precision-tool manufacturing and glass, pottery and tile work were each associated with 1.6-fold increase in ALS risk, whereas lower risk was associated with textile work. None of the examined occupational exposures was associated with ALS risk overall, but among individuals <65 years of age, formaldehyde was associated with a 1.3-fold increased risk. These results from the Swedish population are consistent with those from US and other populations. We previously showed that elevated bone turnover increased ALS risk and shortened survival. Because elevated bone turnover suggests poor bone health and may increase fracture risk, we evaluated the relationship of ALS risk to previous fracture in a prospective study. We followed a cohort of 4,529,460 people from 1987 to 2010 and identified ALS and fractures from the National Patient Register. We examined associations of ALS with all fractures (except head and face), osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic fractures, and traumatic and non-traumatic fractures. All types of fractures were associated with 1.5-fold higher incidence of ALS. Increased ALS incidence was significantly associated with fractures occurring from one year (2.3-fold increase) to 18 years (1.2-fold increase) before ALS diagnosis. These results suggest that bone health prior to diagnosis may be related to ALS and may offer insight into ALS pathophysiology. Occupational Cohorts Concerns exist about potential neurological effects among airplane flight crew of exposure to contaminants from engine oil in aircraft cabin air. We evaluated mortality from neurodegenerative diseases among 11,311 former US flight attendants. We ascertained vital status through 2007 and conducted life table analyses to obtain standardized mortality ratios. ALS mortality was elevated two-fold compared to the US population, based on 9 deaths. There was no clear pattern in risk related to exposure duration. Mortality from other neurodegenerative diseases was not elevated. Our findings are limited by small numbers of observed deaths, but suggest that flight attendants may have an increased risk of ALS, possibly related to exposure to tricresyl pho
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