Genetic epidemiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: are the most common mutated genes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Here, we performed a meta-analysis to determine the mutation frequencies of these major ALS-related genes in patients with ALS. METHODS: mutations in ALS. The mutation frequency and effect size of each study were combined. Possible sources of heterogeneity across studies were determined by meta-regression, sensitivity analysis and subgroup analysis. RESULTS: (FALS 1.5%, SALS 0.2%) mutations. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrated that the genetic architecture of ALS in Asian populations is distinct from that in European populations, which need to be given appropriate consideration when performing genetic testing of patients with ALS.