PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - A M Chancellor
AU  - J M Slattery
AU  - H Fraser
AU  - C P Warlow
TI  - Risk factors for motor neuron disease: a case-control study based on patients from the Scottish Motor Neuron Disease Register.
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp.56.11.1200
DP  - 1993 Nov 01
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
PG  - 1200--1206
VI  - 56
IP  - 11
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/56/11/1200.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/56/11/1200.full
SO  - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry1993 Nov 01; 56
AB  - In order to identify risk factors for the subsequent development of motor neuron disease (MND) we have carried out a case-control study of incident patients in Scotland, identified using the Scottish Motor Neuron Disease Register. A standard questionnaire was given to 103 patients and the same number of community controls matched on a one to one basis using the general practitioner's (GP) age and sex register. Recall bias was minimised by using GP records to verify the subject's report. There was an overall lifetime excess of fractures in patients, odds ratio (OR) = 1.3 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.7-2.5) and this was highest in the 5 years before symptom onset (OR = 15, 95% CI, 3.3-654). There was no association with non-fracture trauma but the OR for a manual occupation in patients was 2.6 (95% CI, 1.1-6.3). Both occupational exposure to lead (OR = 5.7, 95% CI, 1.6-30) and solvents/chemicals (OR = 3.3, 95% CI 1.3-10) were significantly more common in patients. No consistent association was found between MND and factors reflecting socioeconomic deprivation in childhood; childhood infections or social class. Our results identify a number of different factors which may contribute to the aetiology of MND.