Affiliates
Orla Hardiman, Mark Heverin[1], James Rooney[1] [2], Patricia Lillo[3], Gladys Godoy [4], David Sáez [4], Daniel Valenzuela [4], Ricardo Hughes [4], Abayuba Perna [5], Carlos N. Ketzoian [5], Cristina Vazquez [5], Joel Gutierrez Gil [6], Asdrúbal Arias Morales [6], Gloria Lara Fernandez [6], Tatiana Zaldivar [6], Kevin Horton [7], Paul Mehta [7] & Giancarlo Logroscino [8]
- Academic Unit of Neurology TBSI, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Neurology Department (South Division), Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Neurology Department (North division), Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Instituto de Neurología, Hospital de Clínicas Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
- National Institute of Neurology & Neurosurgery, Havana, Cuba
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
Summary
This research article covers the establishing of the Latin American Epidemiological Network of ALS (LAENALS) to perform a comparative analysis of ALS epidemiology between three different Latin American populations (Cuba, Uruguay and Chile). There is evolving evidence of non-uniform distribution of ALS worldwide, with apparently lower incident and prevalent rates outside populations of European origin. LAENALS aims to test the hypothesis that the demographics, phenotype and outcome of ALS are influenced by ancestral origin, and that environmental and occupational risk factors differ across different ethnicities due to subtle differences in gene- environmental interactions