Table 1.

Summary of clinical characteristics between patients with ALS and normal controls in whole group analysis.

	NC (n = 43)	ALS (n = 43)	P
Age	51.8 ± 9.4	53.5 ± 9.0	0.389
Male, n	26	26	1
MMSE	28.8 ± 1.1	28.2 ± 1.9	0.054
ALSFRS	n/a	30.1 ± 6.6	—
Disease duration (months)	n/a	16.9 ± 16.5	—
Disease progression rate	n/a	0.98 ± 1.03	—

NC: normal controls; MMSE: Mini-Mental Status Evaluation; disease progression rate = (40-ALSFRS)/disease duration. n/a: not applicable.