Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37073502›Full record

ArticleBrain and behavior2023

Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A population-based cohort study.

Nils Skajaa, Emil Bjerregaard Riahi, Szimonetta Komjáthiné Szépligeti, Erzsébet Horváth-Puhó, Trine Toft Sørensen, Victor W Henderson, Henrik Toft Sørensen

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Brain and behavior, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
2.1field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Prevalence and impact of comorbidities in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2026
    Review
  2. Review
  3. Two-step Mendelian randomization reveals a lipid-driven protective effect of type 2 diabetes on ALS.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Mitochondria-associated membrane collapse impairs TBK1-mediated proteostatic stress response in ALS.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Nils SkajaaDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0001-8351-7133
Emil Bjerregaard RiahiDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Szimonetta Komjáthiné SzépligetiDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Erzsébet Horváth-PuhóDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Trine Toft SørensenInstitute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Victor W HendersonDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Henrik Toft SørensenDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Aarhus University Hospital · DKUniversity of Copenhagen · DK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundType 2 diabetes and obesity may be inversely associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but the evidence is controversial.

methodsUsing Danish, nationwide registries (1980-2016), we identified patients with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes (N = 295,653) and patients with a diagnosis of obesity (N = 312,108). Patients were matched (1:3) to persons from the general population on birth year and sex. We computed incidence rates and Cox regression derived hazard ratios (HRs) of a diagnosis of ALS. In multivariable analyses, HRs were controlled for sex, birth year, calendar year, and comorbidities.

resultsWe observed 168 incident cases of ALS (0.7 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.6-0.8] per 10,000 person-years) among patients with type 2 diabetes and 859 incident cases of ALS (0.9 [95% CI: 0.9-1.0] per 10,000 person-years) among matched comparators. The adjusted HR was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.72-1.04). The association was present among men (adjusted HR: 0.78 [95% CI: 0.62-0.99]) but not women (adjusted HR: 1.03 [95% CI: 0.78-1.37]), and among those aged ≥60 years (adjusted HR: 0.75 [95% CI: 0.59-0.96]) but not younger. We observed 111 ALS events (0.4 [95% CI: 0.4-0.5] per 10,000 person-years) among obesity patients and 431 ALS events (0.5 [95% CI: 0.5-0.6] per 10,000 person-years) among comparators. The adjusted HR was 0.88 (95% CI: 0.70-1.11).

conclusionsDiagnoses of type 2 diabetes and obesity were associated with a reduced rate of ALS compared with general population comparators, particularly among men and patients aged 60 years or above. However, absolute rate differences were small.

Indexed as

Amyotrophic Lateral SclerosisDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2Cohort StudiesComorbidityHumansIncidenceMaleObesityamyotrophic lateral sclerosiscohort studydiabetesobesitypopulation-based

Identifiers

PMID37073502
PMCPMC10275529
OpenAlexW4366352001

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.