Patient characteristics
| Incident cohort (n=1128) | Prevalent cohort (n=833) | p Value | |
| Age at diagnosis (years) (median (IQR)) | 64.7 (57.6–72.0) | 60.4 (52.2–68.2) | <0.001 |
| Age at disease onset (years) (median (IQR)) | 63.0 (55.6–70.7) | 58.1 (48.2–66.0) | <0.001 |
| Time to diagnosis (days) (median (IQR)) | 343 (211–576) | 477 (272–975) | <0.001 |
| Sex (males) (n (%)) | 670 (59.4) | 514 (61.7) | 0.30 |
| Familial ALS (n (%)) | 57 (5.1) | 36 (4.3) | 0.52 |
| El Escorial classification (n (%))* | |||
| Definite | 185 (16.4) | 97 (11.6) | |
| Probable | 380 (33.7) | 219 (26.3) | |
| Probable laboratory supported | 132 (11.7) | 78 (9.4) | <0.001 |
| Possible | 257 (22.8) | 267 (32.1) | |
| Suspected | 163 (14.5) | 165 (19.8) | |
| Site of onset (n (%))† | |||
| Bulbar | 338 (30.0) | 159 (19.1) | |
| Cervical | 335 (29.7) | 285 (34.2) | |
| Thoracic | 14 (1.2) | 9 (1.1) | <0.001 |
| Lumbosacral | 368 (32.6) | 333 (40.0) | |
| Generalised | 59 (5.2) | 27 (3.2) | |
* Unknown in 11 incident and seven prevalent patients.
† Unknown in 14 incident and 20 prevalent patients.
ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.