summary: A new study has revealed a possible link between storing chemicals in your garage and an increased risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Researchers identified a significant association between ALS risk and residential storage of volatile chemicals such as pesticides, gasoline, and paint.
The findings highlight the importance of the ‘ALS exposome’, a concept that explains the cumulative exposure to environmental toxins associated with ALS. Insights from this study suggest interventions to minimize exposure and potentially reduce ALS risk by changing home storage practices.
Important facts:
- The study surveyed more than 600 participants and found that storing volatile chemicals in attached garages was significantly associated with ALS risk.
- Chemicals associated with ALS include gasoline, lawn care products, and woodworking supplies, which most participants reported storing in attached garages.
- Air flow from attached garages to living spaces may explain the increased risk, pointing to the need for building codes that minimize such exposure.
sauce: University of Michigan
Over the past decade, researchers at the University of Michigan have shown that exposure to environmental toxins, from pesticides used in agriculture to volatile organic compounds in manufacturing, can contribute to the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We continue to discover that it is related to
The accumulation of exposure, which researchers call the ALS exposome, may be associated with recreational activities such as woodworking and gardening.
Now, a Michigan Medicine study has found that storing chemicals in your garage may increase your risk of ALS.
Result is, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal degeneration.
“Identifying disease-inducing exposures can inform and motivate interventions to reduce exposure, risk, and ultimately the burden of ALS,” said Plunger ALS Clinic Director said Stephen Gortman, MD, MSc, associate director of the ALS Center of Excellence and lead author. at the University of Michigan.
“Exposure in the home environment is an important part of the ALS exposome because it is one of the places where behavior modification may potentially reduce ALS risk.”
Whether it’s cars, motorcycles, equipment like chainsaws, solvents, cleaners, paints, or other items, it’s very common to have volatile chemicals stored in your garage.
Researchers evaluated exposure in residential settings from a study of more than 600 participants with and without ALS. Through statistical analysis, researchers found that storage of chemicals such as gasoline and gasoline-powered equipment, lawn care products, pesticides, paints, and woodworking supplies was significantly associated with ALS risk.
All chemicals reported to be associated with disease development were of a volatile nature with toxic components. Most participants reported storing some items in attached garages.
However, there was no strong association between storing chemicals in a detached garage and risk.
Researchers say the flow of air and airborne contaminants from attached garages into living spaces could explain this finding.
“Especially in colder climates, air in the garage tends to flow into the home when the front door opens, and the air flow occurs more or less continuously through small cracks and openings in the walls and floors.” said Dr. Stuart Batterman. , senior author and professor of environmental health sciences at the UM School of Public Health.
“Therefore, it stands to reason that storing volatile chemicals in an attached garage would have a stronger effect.”
Batterman said modern building codes address this issue by identifying measures to reduce or eliminate these airflows.
“We’re beginning to see risk factors across multiple environments that may be associated with greater ALS risk. We’re also beginning to see several risk factors across the study, including woodworking and woodworking supplies and gardening and lawn care products. We also see a correlation between the two,” Gautmann said.
“This begs the question: Is it activity associated with ALS risk or exposure to associated products? This requires further research.”
In 2016, a team of researchers found that people with ALS had higher levels of pesticides in their blood than people without the disease.
A subsequent study published in 2019 showed that organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS) were associated with worse survival in ALS.
“Each study advances our understanding of the types of exposures that increase the risk of developing ALS,” said lead author Eva Feldman, MD, director of the ALS Center of Excellence at UM and the James W. Albers Distinguished University. I am. Professor at UM.
“We now need to build on these findings to understand how these exposures increase ALS risk. In parallel, we must advocate for ALS to become a reportable disease. We must continue to do so, and only then will we fully understand the continuum of exposures that increase the risk of disease.”
Research is underway to understand how environmental exposures contribute to the development of ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases in people with and without family history.
Additional authors: They include Dr. Jonathan Boss, Dr. Dae Gyu Jang, Caroline Piechuch, Hasan Farid, Madeleine Batra, and Dr. Bhramar Mukherjee from the University of Michigan.
Funding: This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National ALS Registry/CDC/ATSDR, the ALS Association, the NeuroNetwork for Emerging Therapies, the Robert and Katherine Jacobs Environmental Health Initiative, the NeuroNetwork Therapeutic Discovery Fund, and the Peter R. Supported by Clark. ALS Research Fund, Sinai Medical Staff Foundation, Scott L. Plunger, University of Michigan.
About this ALS research news
author: Noah Fromson
sauce: University of Michigan
contact: Noah Fromson – University of Michigan
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Closed access.
“Associations between residential exposure and ALS risk, survival, and phenotype: a Michigan-based case-control study” by Stephen Goutman et al. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal degeneration
abstract
Associations between residential exposure and ALS risk, survival, and phenotype: a Michigan-based case-control study
background: Environmental exposures influence the risk and progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal, progressive neurodegenerative disease. Better characterization of these exposures is needed to reduce the disease burden.
objective: Identify residential exposures associated with ALS risk, survival, and incidence segments.
method: ALS and control participants recruited from the University of Michigan completed a survey to determine exposure risk in their residential settings. ALS risk was assessed using a logistic regression model, followed by latent profile analysis to account for exposure profiles. Case-only analyzes considered the contribution of housing exposure variables through Cox proportional hazards models for survival outcomes and multinomial logistic regression for the multi-outcome onset segment.
result: The study included 367 ALS participants and 255 control participants. Twelve housing variables were associated with his ALS risk (odds ratio (OR) = 1.14; padjusted < 0.001), gasoline drive (OR = 1.16, padjusted < 0.001), and lawn care products (OR = 1.15, padjusted < 0.001). adjusted.
Latent profile analysis showed that storing these chemicals in both attached and detached garages increased ALS risk. Housing variables were not associated with decreased ALS survival after multiple testing corrections, but storage of pesticides, lawn care products, and woodworking supplies in the home was associated with decreased ALS survival using nominal values. It was associated with shortening. p values. There were no exposures related to the ALS onset segment.
conclusion: Residential exposure may be an important modifiable factor in ALS susceptibility and prognosis.
