AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS IN FINLAND

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Abstract
The clinical characteristics of ALS [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis] in Finland were investigated. The study was based on the hospital records of 255 patients. No correlation was found between the disease and other previous illnesses. Muscular weakness was the most frequent complaint of the patients as their 1st symptom (149/255, i.e., 58%). The duration of the disease was shortest (1.9 yr) in male cases with the 1st symptoms in the bulbar area, and it was longest (3.4 yr) in females with a spinal onset of symptoms. The duration of the disease was in inverse relation to the age when it was contracted. Progressive muscular atrophy with fasciculations was considered the most important clinical sign of ALS. It wasmost frequently observed in the upper extremities including shoulders. Sensory disturbances were absent, sphincter abnormalities were reported in only 3 cases, bed sores did not exist and there were no reports of impotence in the male patients. Two families with 2 familial cases in each were found, altogether 2 men and 2 women. Their disease did not differ from that of the rest of the series. The ALS patients soon became too disabled to work; 56% became permanently disabled in less than 1 yr, and only 9% retained their working capacity for more than 2 yr. The average length of stay at hospital was 32 days for ALS and 37 days for MS patients, but the later group was hospitalized 2-3 times more frequently than the former. Gastrostomy or tracheostomy and artifical respiration did not lengthen the lives of the patients.