Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Mortality in the United States, 2011-2013 (P5.087)

Abstract

Objective: To determine mortality rates for ALS in the United States, 2011-2013, using International Classification of Disease, 10th Revision (ICD-10), code G12.2, Motor Neuron Disease (MND), and excluding deaths from causes other than ALS. Background: Unlike the 9th Revision, ICD-10 does not include a code specific for ALS. In addition, other non-MND conditions (e.g., supranuclear palsy) were assigned to G12.2. Past mortality studies have reported rates for G12.2 without excluding those that were not ALS which leads to inflated mortality rates. This analysis focuses only on the mortality for ALS. Methods: Mortality data for ALS were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, for the period 2011-2013. Text strings for multiple-cause-of death were reviewed for all deaths with a code of G12.2. Deaths without ALS listed in one of the multiple-cause of death fields were excluded. ALS death rates per 100,000 persons were age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population. Results: Approximately 21[percnt] of ICD-10 code G12.2 deaths in each year were not ALS, the majority being supranuclear palsy. There were 18,036 ALS deaths in the US during 2011-2013, mostly white (n=16,487; 91[percnt]) and male (n=10,065; 56[percnt]). The overall death rate was 1.7 per 100,000 persons (95[percnt] CI 1.7, 1.7). The death rate for males was 2.1 per 100,000 persons (95[percnt] CI 2.0, 2.1) and for females was 1.4 per 100,000 persons (95[percnt] CI 1.4, 1.4). Conclusions: Previous reports of ALS mortality in the U.S., showed similar age, sex, and race distributions. However, other reports showed slightly greater age-adjusted mortality rates due to the inclusion of other diseases in the case definition. Until there is a specific ICD-10 code for ALS, an additional review of multiple-cause of death data is required to give an accurate estimate of ALS deaths in the United States.

Disclosure: Dr. Larson has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kaye has received personal compensation for activities with McKing Consulting Corporation as an employee. Dr. Mehta has nothing to disclose. Dr. Horton has nothing to disclose.