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Aetiology

Authoring team

The aetiology of motor neurone disease is unknown. 5-10% of cases show a family link. The others occur sporadically.

Syndromes resembling MND may occur:

  • following chronic poisoning with mercury, lead, manganese, or selenium
  • in association with disorders of metabolism - hypoglycaemia, uraemia, macroglobulinaemia, and following gastric surgery
  • following trauma/injury to a limb
  • in association with other progressive degenerative diseases of the nervous system of unknown aetiology - Pick's disease, parkinsonism, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
  • it is endemic in island of Guam where it may occur with parkinsonism and dementia

Reference

  1. Al-Chalabi A, Hardiman O. The epidemiology of ALS: a conspiracy of genes, environment and time. Nat Rev Neurol. 2013 Nov;9(11):617-28.

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