Estimation of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis incidence by capture-recapture method in the Limousin region of France

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly fatal degenerative neurolo gical disease categorized among motor neuron diseases. In the literature, t he incidence of ALS varies between 0.7 and 2.4 per 100,000 inhabitants. A s tudy using the capture-recapture method (multiple records system analysis) was undertaken in Limousin (France) ascertaining all patients having onset of definite or probable ALS during the period 1994-1995. Three information sources able to identify these new ALS cases were selected: the first sourc e was a computerized database of the Neurology Department of the University Hospital of Limoges; the second source consisted of the neurologists of th e Limousin region and neighboring provinces (county-sized regions); the thi rd source grouped the hospitals of the Limousin region and neighboring prov inces (county-sized regions). During this period, 46 new cases of ALS were seen, corresponding to an observed mean annual incidence of 3.2 (+/-0.6) pe r 100,000 inhabitants. After standardization for age, the annual incidence was 2.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. The number of new cases estimated by the c apture-recapture method was 70, corresponding to an estimated mean annual i ncidence of 4.9 (+/-1.0) for 100,000 inhabitants. Hence, statistical modeli ng utilizing partially overlapping information sources permitted a more exh austive compendium of the new cases of ALS and may be a truer reflection of actual disease incidence than has been previously reported. (C) 2000 Elsev ier Science Inc. All rights reserved.