There are tens of thousands of Americans with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, most do not have a single genetic mutation shown to cause the fatal disease. Researchers took the genotypes of 219 patients with ALS and 223 healthy individuals without ALS, and they constructed the polygenic scores with over 50,000 people. Neurologists Stephen Goutman, M.D., discusses how the study aims to distinguish which populations have better odds of developing the disease and inform prevention studies and interventions.
