The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a chronic and progressive neuro-degenerative pathologythat starts in adult age and usually leads patients to death for respiratory distress after 3 years fromthe onset of symptomsIn some studies, vigorous and continuous physical activity due to heavy working activity andsport is associated with ALS. On the other hand other studies are against this association. A studycarried out in Europe found overall physical activity is associated with reduced odds of having ALS(OR=0.65, 95% CI=0.48-0.89), and the same protective factor is seen for work-related physicalactivity (OR=0.56, 95% CI=0.36-0.87) and organized sports (OR=0.49, 95% CI=0.32-0.75.A recent literature review found that football/soccer may be considered as a possible risk factorfor ALS (level C) and there is a strong need for further research that must take into account thenumerous confounding factors that could be present in this field. However only well conductedobservational studies, such as cohort and case-control studies, carried out with the same designin different countries could give a final answer to this suspected but still unconfirmed association
Is there a link between physical activity and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?
Masala, Daniele
2015-01-01
Abstract
The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a chronic and progressive neuro-degenerative pathologythat starts in adult age and usually leads patients to death for respiratory distress after 3 years fromthe onset of symptomsIn some studies, vigorous and continuous physical activity due to heavy working activity andsport is associated with ALS. On the other hand other studies are against this association. A studycarried out in Europe found overall physical activity is associated with reduced odds of having ALS(OR=0.65, 95% CI=0.48-0.89), and the same protective factor is seen for work-related physicalactivity (OR=0.56, 95% CI=0.36-0.87) and organized sports (OR=0.49, 95% CI=0.32-0.75.A recent literature review found that football/soccer may be considered as a possible risk factorfor ALS (level C) and there is a strong need for further research that must take into account thenumerous confounding factors that could be present in this field. However only well conductedobservational studies, such as cohort and case-control studies, carried out with the same designin different countries could give a final answer to this suspected but still unconfirmed associationI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
