Genes and Environmental Exposures in Veterans with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: the GENEVA study. Rationale, study design and demographic characteristics.

Recent reports of a potentially increased risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for veterans deployed to the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War prompted the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a National Registry of Veterans with ALS, charged with the goal of enrolling all US veterans with a neurologist-confirmed diagnosis of ALS. The Genes and Environmental Exposures in Veterans with ALS study (GENEVA) is a case-control study presently enrolling cases from the Department of Veterans Affairs registry and a representative sample of veteran controls to evaluate the joint contributions of genetic susceptibility and environmental exposures to the risk of sporadic ALS. The GENEVA study design, recruitment strategies, methods of collecting DNA samples and environmental risk factor information are described here, along with a summary of demographic characteristics of the participants (537 cases, 292 controls) enrolled to date.

Duke Scholars

Author Kelli Dominick Allen Medicine, General Internal Medicine

Author Christina D Williams Medicine, Medical Oncology

Author Eugene Zaverio Oddone Medicine, General Internal Medicine

Author Richard Stanley Bedlack Neurology, Neuromuscular Disease

Author Joel Charles Morgenlander Neurology, General & Community Neurology