title: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Finland: birthplaces of patients, parents and grandparents.
abstract: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) appears to be more prevalent in the southeastern part of Finland and among the war evacuees displaced from this area after the World War II than elsewhere in the country. A random sample of 31 ALS patients was chosen and the birthplaces of their ancestors traced back in two generations to find out whether there would be any tendency of clustering in certain regions of the country. No such trend was found. This finding speaks against a genetically determined tendency for the disease.
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans