Short-term air pollution exposure and emergency department visits for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A time-stratified case-crossover analysis

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and devastating neurodegenerative disease, eventually leading to respiratory failure. Although the only currently available therapeutic interventions merely slow the disease progression, few studies have examined risk factors associated with ALS exacerbation and progression. Objective: To investigate the association between exposure to short-term air pollution and acute exacerbation of ALS requiring emergency department (ED) visit. Methods: We identified from the national emergency database of Korea 617 patients who visited EDs in Seoul with ALS as a primary cause during the period 2008–2014. We estimated short-term exposure to particles