Smoking and ALS: Is Smoking a Risk Factor for ALS?

It's a disease that causes progressive loss of strength and muscle wasting. Eventually, its victims lose the ability to talk, chew or swallow - and death usually follows within 3 years.

ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a disease for which there is no cure - and no one knows exactly what causes it. But if you're concerned about your risk for ALS, give up cigarettes. A new study published in the Archives of Neurology showed that smoking may increase the risk of this devastating disease. What is the relationship between smoking and ALS?

ALS Risk Factors: Is Smoking a Risk for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?

When researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health looked at over a million people as a part of different five long-term studies, they found that those who currently smoked had a 42% greater risk of developing ALS compared to non-smokers, while former smokers had a 44% higher risk. The risk also went up the more cigarettes a person smoked, the earlier they had started smoking and the longer they had been a smoker.

Smoking and ALS: An Established Link?

This isn't the first study to show a link between smoking and ALS. According to the ALS Association, smoking is now an established ALS risk factor. No one knows for sure why cigarette smoking increases the risk of ALS. According to the authors of this recent study, the chemicals in cigarette smoke may harm nerve cells directly or by forming free radicals. Formaldehyde is another chemical in cigarettes that's been linked with an increased risk of ALS.

Other risk factors for ALS include being older and male, although men have only a slightly higher risk than women. There's also a genetic component too. Up to 10% of people with amytrophic lateral sclerosis have a relative with the disease, although anyone can get it.

Smoking and ALS: The Bottom Line?

If you have a family member who has had ALS, it's even more important to give up cigarettes. Experts believe that there's both a genetic and environmental component to the disease, and cigarette smoke could be a trigger in someone who's at high risk for ALS because of genetics. If you're a smoker, kick the habit and reduce your risk of this dreaded disease for which there is no cure.

References:

ALS Association. "Smoking May Now Be Considered an Established Risk Factor for ALS"

Eurekalert.org. "Cigarette Smoking Associated with Increased Risk of Developing ALS"