Table 4.
Diagnostic and clinical approaches to oALS patients compared to other ALS patients.
| Age at Diagnosis ≤80 years | Age at Diagnosis >80 years | Total | p Value | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N or Mean | % or SD | N or Mean | % or SD | N or Mean | % or SD | ||
| Use of Riluzole * | 1003 | 84.00 | 119 | 68.79 | 1122 | 82.08 | <0.001 |
| Diagnostic procedures ° | |||||||
| EMG | 1129 | 92.77 | 165 | 95.37 | 1294 | 93.09 | 0.096 |
| Brain MRI | 921 | 75.25 | 110 | 63.22 | 1031 | 73.75 | 0.001 |
| Cervical MRI | 790 | 64.54 | 78 | 44.83 | 868 | 62.09 | <0.001 |
| Lumbosacral MRI | 405 | 33.09 | 43 | 24.71 | 448 | 32.04 | 0.027 |
| Multidisciplinary evaluation | |||||||
| Neurological examinations, n/year | 2.25 | 1.87 | 1.93 | 1.38 | 2.21 | 1.82 | 0.035 |
| Pneumological evaluations, n/year | 1.44 | 1.31 | 1.20 | 1.02 | 1.41 | 1.28 | 0.025 |
| Medical rehabilitation assessments, n/year | 1.00 | 1.02 | 0.90 | 0.91 | 0.98 | 1.01 | 0.235 |
| Speech therapist assessments, n/year | 0.65 | 0.85 | 0.64 | 0.81 | 0.65 | 0.81 | 0.900 |
| Nutritional assessments, n/year | 0.99 | 1.19 | 0.95 | 1.05 | 0.98 | 1.17 | 0.729 |
| Psychological assistance, n/year | 0.65 | 0.92 | 0.22 | 0.71 | 0.62 | 0.90 | 0.002 |
| Palliative care evaluations, n/year | 0.22 | 0.67 | 0.18 | 0.52 | 0.22 | 0.65 | 0.432 |
| Medical and nursing home care, n/year | 0.42 | 0.96 | 0.30 | 0.59 | 0.41 | 0.92 | 0.113 |
| Total | 1391 | 86.24 | 222 | 13.76 | 1613 | 100 | |
* Data available for 1367 patients; ° data available for 1398 patients, except for EMG (1390 cases).