ALS patients’ families at risk for disorders

NEW YORK — Family members of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are at increased risk for developing neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, new research suggests.

Alcoholism, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychotic illness, schizophrenia and suicide occur more frequently in relatives of ALS patients than in controls, the authors report in a study published online Oct. 16.

“Our family-aggregation study clearly shows the presence of ‘neuropsychiatric endophenotypes’ within kindreds of those with ALS. The endophenotypes are not uniformly distributed across the entire ALS population, but rather within approximately 30% of ALS kindreds,” Dr. Orla Hardiman of Trinity College Dublin told Reuters Health by email.

“What we consider to be ‘familial ALS’ (a proxy for a genetic form of the condition) may also encompass other neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions,” she added. “The concept of ALS as a ‘network disorder’ is novel and opens up entirely new perspective in terms of the types of drugs that we might consider using.”

Overall, 61.4% patients with ALS and 38.6% of controls reported at least one first-degree or second-degree relative with a history of alcoholism, autism, depression, psychosis, schizophrenia, or suicide.