2. Advanced Age: The Inevitable March of Time
One of the few indisputable risk factors for ALS is advanced age. The disease most commonly strikes people between the ages of 40 and 70. As we age, our cells, including neurons, are less capable of repairing damage and combating disease, potentially increasing the risk of conditions like ALS.
ALS is an age-dependent disease, meaning that the risk of developing it increases with each passing year. Our bodies naturally accumulate cellular damage over time, and this damage may contribute to the degeneration of motor neurons in ALS. Additionally, the body’s capacity to remove damaged cells decreases with age, which could also play a role in the disease’s progression.
Notably, though, while ALS is more common in older adults, it is not exclusively a disease of the elderly. ALS can strike at any age, and cases have been reported in people as young as their 20s and 30s. This is further evidence of the multifactorial nature of the disease, and it underscores the fact that while age is a significant risk factor, it is not the sole determinant of ALS risk.
From a positive perspective, understanding the role of aging in ALS could be key to finding effective treatments. Interventions aimed at improving cellular repair and clearance of damaged cells may slow down disease progression. Furthermore, these interventions could have wider applications in treating other age-related diseases, presenting a silver lining to this otherwise disheartening reality.(2)
