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Is Chronic Exposure to Raw Water a Possible Risk Factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Pilot Case-Control Study

Background: The etiopathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is still largely unknown. Methods: We performed a case-control study (33 cases and 35 controls) in Umbria, Italy. We investigated associations between common lifestyle, clinical factors, as well as environmental exposures potent...

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Autores principales: Stipa, Giuseppe, Ancidoni, Antonio, Mazzola, Monica, Testai, Emanuela, Funari, Enzo, Spera, Cristina, Fanelli, Cinzia, Mancini, Alessia, Vanacore, Nicola
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7914845/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33562464
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11020193
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author Stipa, Giuseppe
Ancidoni, Antonio
Mazzola, Monica
Testai, Emanuela
Funari, Enzo
Spera, Cristina
Fanelli, Cinzia
Mancini, Alessia
Vanacore, Nicola
author_facet Stipa, Giuseppe
Ancidoni, Antonio
Mazzola, Monica
Testai, Emanuela
Funari, Enzo
Spera, Cristina
Fanelli, Cinzia
Mancini, Alessia
Vanacore, Nicola
author_sort Stipa, Giuseppe
collection PubMed
description Background: The etiopathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is still largely unknown. Methods: We performed a case-control study (33 cases and 35 controls) in Umbria, Italy. We investigated associations between common lifestyle, clinical factors, as well as environmental exposures potentially implicated with ALS onset. Face-to-face interviews were carried out. All cases were recruited and diagnosed according to El Escorial criteria. Case-control comparisons were made for educational and residential status, occupational exposures, and clinical and lifestyle factors prior to cases’ dates of diagnosis. Results: Our results showed an increased risk of ALS for subjects chronically exposed to raw water use (odds ratio (OR) = 6.55, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.24–19.12). Garden activities showed a tight association with ALS as well, very likely as a consequence of chronic raw water exposure. Indeed, we could exclude an impact for pesticides, as no significant differences were observed in pesticide exposure in the two groups interviewed. However, cases were more often exposed to fertilizers. After adjustment for age, sex, and heavy physical activities, exposure to raw water was still associated with increased ALS risk (OR = 4.74, 95% CI: 1.33–16.85). Discussion: These findings suggest an association between ALS and exposure to raw water, which should be further investigated for the presence of chemicals interfering with nervous system functionality.
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spelling pubmed-79148452021-03-01 Is Chronic Exposure to Raw Water a Possible Risk Factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Pilot Case-Control Study Stipa, Giuseppe Ancidoni, Antonio Mazzola, Monica Testai, Emanuela Funari, Enzo Spera, Cristina Fanelli, Cinzia Mancini, Alessia Vanacore, Nicola Brain Sci Article Background: The etiopathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is still largely unknown. Methods: We performed a case-control study (33 cases and 35 controls) in Umbria, Italy. We investigated associations between common lifestyle, clinical factors, as well as environmental exposures potentially implicated with ALS onset. Face-to-face interviews were carried out. All cases were recruited and diagnosed according to El Escorial criteria. Case-control comparisons were made for educational and residential status, occupational exposures, and clinical and lifestyle factors prior to cases’ dates of diagnosis. Results: Our results showed an increased risk of ALS for subjects chronically exposed to raw water use (odds ratio (OR) = 6.55, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.24–19.12). Garden activities showed a tight association with ALS as well, very likely as a consequence of chronic raw water exposure. Indeed, we could exclude an impact for pesticides, as no significant differences were observed in pesticide exposure in the two groups interviewed. However, cases were more often exposed to fertilizers. After adjustment for age, sex, and heavy physical activities, exposure to raw water was still associated with increased ALS risk (OR = 4.74, 95% CI: 1.33–16.85). Discussion: These findings suggest an association between ALS and exposure to raw water, which should be further investigated for the presence of chemicals interfering with nervous system functionality. MDPI 2021-02-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7914845/ /pubmed/33562464 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11020193 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Stipa, Giuseppe
Ancidoni, Antonio
Mazzola, Monica
Testai, Emanuela
Funari, Enzo
Spera, Cristina
Fanelli, Cinzia
Mancini, Alessia
Vanacore, Nicola
Is Chronic Exposure to Raw Water a Possible Risk Factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Pilot Case-Control Study
title Is Chronic Exposure to Raw Water a Possible Risk Factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Pilot Case-Control Study
title_full Is Chronic Exposure to Raw Water a Possible Risk Factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Pilot Case-Control Study
title_fullStr Is Chronic Exposure to Raw Water a Possible Risk Factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Pilot Case-Control Study
title_full_unstemmed Is Chronic Exposure to Raw Water a Possible Risk Factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Pilot Case-Control Study
title_short Is Chronic Exposure to Raw Water a Possible Risk Factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Pilot Case-Control Study
title_sort is chronic exposure to raw water a possible risk factor for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis? a pilot case-control study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7914845/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33562464
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11020193
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