Could Type 2 Diabetes Protect Against ALS?

Individuals with type 2 diabetes displayed a decreased risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the fatal motor neuron disorder, according to a recent study.

In the past, research has been conducted on the impact of cardiometabolic health on the pathogenesis of ALS; however, study findings on the association between ALS and diabetes have been inconsistent.
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For the case-control study, researchers examined 3650 Danish residents who were diagnosed with ALS between January 1, 1982 and December 31, 2009, and compared them to 365,000 controls based on age and sex.

When calculating adjusted odds ratios for ALS associated with diabetes or obesity diagnoses 3 years prior to ALS diagnosis, they identified a protective association between type 2 diabetes and ALS, but not with type 1 diabetes or obesity.

“[O]ur findings are in agreement with previous reports of a protective association between vascular risk factors and ALS and suggest that type 2 diabetes, but not type 1, is protective for ALS,” they wrote.

“The protective association was stronger with increasing age at ALS diagnosis (P = .01), and the odds ratio for first mention of diabetes was 1.66 (95% CI, 0.85-3.21) before age 40 years but 0.52 (95% CI, 0.39-0.70) for older ages.”

The complete study is published in the June issue of JAMA Neurology.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:
Kioumourtzoglou MA, Rotem RS, Seals RM, et al. Diabetes mellitus, obesity, and diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. JAMA Neurol. 2015 June [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2015.0910.