Mortality From Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Finland 1987-2022

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease. We assessed changes in the mortality from ALS in Finland from 1987 to 2022.

Numbers of deaths caused by ALS (ICD-10 code G12.2) and population sizes by sex, age group, and year were obtained from Statistics Finland. Crude and age-standardized mortality rates were calculated. The annual percentage change was estimated using Poisson regression, and joinpoint regression was used to identify changes in trend during the study period.

Mortality from ALS increased in Finland from 1987 to 2022. The age-standardized ALS mortality in the entire population was 2.24/100,000 in 1987 and 4.21/100,000 in 2022. The male: female ratio in mortality was 1.18. The age-standardized mortality increased on average by 1.7% (95% CI 1.5%-2.0%) annually. In men, the age-standardized mortality increased on average by 1.2% (95% CI 0.9%-1.6%) annually and in women by 2.0% (95% CI 1.6%-2.3%). The largest increase occurred in the oldest age group (70+ years), with an average annual increase of 2.4% (95% CI 2.0%-2.8%). In joinpoint regression, no changes in trend were identified overall or in men, but in women, the annual percentage change (APC) was 5.5% (95% CI 3.0%-8.0%) in 1987-1997 and 1.0% (95% CI 0.5%-1.4%) during 1997-2022.

Similar to some other countries, mortality from ALS has increased in Finland, nearly doubling in 35 years. Further research on possible reasons is needed.