Epidemiology and economic burden of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the United States: a literature review

Abstract

Objective: This review sought to gain a comprehensive, up-to-date understanding of the epidemiology and cost and healthcare resource use (HCRU) burden of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in the US, at a patient and national level. Methods: A targeted literature review (TLR) to identify epidemiological evidence (prevalence, incidence, mortality, survival), and systematic literature review (SLR) to identify cost and HCRU data published since January 2016, were performed. MEDLINE databases and Embase searches were conducted in January 2021. Key congresses (2019–2020) and bibliographies of relevant SLRs were hand-searched. Two high-quality SLRs were reviewed for additional cost data published between January 2001–2015. Registry and database studies were prioritized for epidemiological evidence. To allow comparison between studies in this publication, only evidence from the US was considered, with costs inflated to the 2020/2021 cost-year and converted to US dollars. Results: Eight studies from the epidemiology TLR, and eighteen from the cost and HCRU SLR, were extracted. Reported ALS incidence in the US was ∼1.5 per 100,000 person-years, and point prevalence ranged from 3.84–5.56 per 100,000 population. Total US national costs spanned ∼$212 million-∼$1.4 billion USD/year, and variably consisted of direct costs associated with HCRU and indirect costs. Conclusions: The national cost of ∼$1.02 billion USD/year (estimated using a prevalence of 16,055 cases) best aligns with prevalence estimates found in the TLR (equating to ∼13,000–18,000 cases). However, large-scale, population-based studies are necessary to precisely assess US epidemiology of ALS and capture all costs needed to inform cost-effectiveness models and resource planning.