Smoking Lou Gehrig's disease risk factor

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Smoking may now be considered an established risk factor for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, U.S. researchers said.

Dr. Carmel Armon, an ALS researcher and neuroepidemiologist at Baystate Medical Center, used evidence-based methods to perform a rigorous analysis of studies examining the link between smoking and developing ALS -- a fatal neurodegenerative disease affecting the motor nerves and the voluntary muscles.

"Application of evidence-based methods separates better-designed studies from studies with limitations that may not be relied on," Armon said in a statement. "The better-designed studies show consistently that smoking increases the risk of developing ALS, with some findings suggesting that smoking may be implicated directly in causing the disease."

The findings are published in the American Academy of Neurology.