Male golfers may be at 3 times higher risk of developing ALS, study finds. What to know

Researchers have found a potential connection between golfers and their risk of developing a fatal neurological disease.

And other activities, such as gardening, woodworking or hunting, may also have a connection to developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known commonly as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, according to the study published February in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

But researchers stress they don’t recommend giving up those activities as more work is needed to determine any concrete link.

ALS is a progressive neurological condition that attacks a person’s nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain, leading eventually to disability and death.

As the cells experience irreversible damage at the hands of the disease, which has no cure, the patient eventually loses the “ability to speak, eat, move and breathe,” according to The ALS Association.

Now, the study from researchers at Michigan Medicine, which relied upon self-reported data, has found evidence that “environmental exposures” during certain activities may provide a link to the disease.

“We know that occupational risk factors, like working in manufacturing and trade industries, are linked to an increased risk for ALS, and this adds to a growing literature that recreational activities may also represent important and possibly modifiable risk factors for this disease,” study author Stephen Goutman said in a news release.

Three times higher risk for golf

Researchers surveyed 400 people living with ALS and 287 people who don’t have the condition between June 2010 and February 2020.

Participants or relatives of those who have died were provided a written questionnaire assessing their hobbies five years before the onset of symptoms or participating in the research if they did not have ALS. These activities included golf, woodworking, hunting, shooting and home remodeling, the study said.

The hobbies were categorized in a three-level tier – the participant engaged in the activity, a household member engaged in the activity and no one in the house engaged in it, the study said.

The study found that men who play golf may be at three times higher risk of contracting ALS. Researchers said female golfers may also be at higher risk but the numbers were too low to make that conclusion.

But researchers don’t want golf enthusiasts to give up the sport or any of the other hobbies as “it is too early for clinicians to advise that patients stop.”

“Future studies should include these activities to pinpoint how they can be understood in the context of ALS prevention, diagnosis and treatment,” Goutman said.

Researchers, however, said this study joins the “growing body of evidence” that environmental exposures can affect a person’s risk of getting the disease.

The study comes after past research has focused on the “potential association of golf with pesticide exposure.” And woodwork, for example, may be connected to ALS as it exposes people to higher levels of formaldehyde, which research has pointed to as a potential risk factor for the disease.

Other self-reported hobbies that also had a link to higher risk of ALS for men were recreational dancing, yard work, hunting and metal work, researchers said.

Those with ALS have a projected survival time of two to five years, but some may live up to 20 years after diagnosis, according to experts. Symptoms can start in the muscles and travel throughout the arms, hands, feet and legs.

“For a disease like Alzheimer’s, we know that a list of factors — including smoking, obesity and high lipids — can increase risk by 40%. Our goal is to establish a similar list for ALS to create a roadmap to decrease risk. With apologies to Robert Frost, it is currently the ‘road not taken,’ and we want to change that,” study senior author Eva Feldman said.

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