Neurology: Analysis of incidence, prevalence and geographical clustering of motor neurone disease in the Netherlands

A recent study published in Neurology, an authoritative journal in the field of neurology, aims to assess the incidence, prevalence and timing of motor neurone disease (MND) in the Netherlands between 1998 and 2017, and to investigate the geographical clustering of MND cases.
researchers analyzed data from the Dutch Personal Records Database, the Dutch MND Center and the Netherlands Association of Patients with Neuromuscular Disorders.
in this prospective cohort study, researchers used Poisson regression to assess the time trend of MND risk and calculated age and gender standardization, observation and expected cases in 1,694 regions.
identified 7,992 MND cases with an annual incidence rate of 2.64 per 100,000 people (95% CI 2.62-2.67) and a prevalence rate of 9.5 per 100,000 people per year (95% CI of 9.1-10.0).
the highest age standardized prevalence and mortality rate is later in men than in females (p.lt;0.001).
unedited mortality rate increased by 53.2 per cent from 2.57 per 100,000 people per year in 1998 to 3.86 in 2017.
by age and sex, the mortality rate for MND patients increased by 14.1% (95% CI 5.7%-23.2%, p.lt;0.001).
range of MND relative risks between geographic regions is 0.78 to 1.43.
thus, mortality rates for MND patients in the Netherlands increased significantly between 1998 and 2017, partly due to an ageing population in the Netherlands and geographical differences in MND risks, indicating the important role of environmental or population risk factors.