Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis likely share an environmental cause, geographic patterns reveal (medicalxpress.com)

submitted 6 months ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/science@lemmy.world

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A new study published in Scientific Reports indicates that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS) have an extremely high geographic association, even after controlling for race, gender, wealth, latitude, and access to neurological health care.

"The results of the study are surprising because previous studies have typically concluded there was no evidence for a mechanistic or genetic link between the two diseases," explains study author Melissa Schilling, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business who specializes in analyzing large-scale datasets using econometrics.

The study also shows that the relationship between the two diseases has likely been overlooked until now because of a "Simpson's Paradox"—a statistical phenomenon whereby a trend appears in different groups of data but disappears or reverses when the groups are combined.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] donuts@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

I might be missing the point, but doesn't MS and ALS exist everywhere in the world?

[-] frongt@lemmy.zip 11 points 6 months ago

Yes, but not at equal rates. That's the point.

[-] whats_a_lemmy@midwest.social 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

They seem to address that in the last paragraph:

The study combined mortality and demographic data obtained from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER database (in the US, the collection of mortality data is mandatory and standardized) with latitude data, economic data, and data on access to neurological health care. The primary results are based on US crude mortality rates at the state level. The analysis was then replicated at the global level using mortality data from the World Health Organization and obtained nearly identical results.

I'm unable to reach the original study though.