Comprehensive Analysis: ALS Incidence, Funding, and Research

This report provides an analysis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), examining incidence rates across different age brackets and genders. It highlights the low incidence in younger age groups, with a male predominance, and the increasing rates with age, where the male incidence consistently exceeds the female incidence. The report compares ALS funding before and after the 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge, demonstrating a significant increase in donations. It also breaks down the allocation of funds, emphasizing the substantial investment in research due to the absence of a known cure. The analysis includes statistical calculations to illustrate incidence rate increases and funding differences. This report leverages the provided data to give a comprehensive overview of ALS's prevalence, financial aspects, and research focus.

1) In the first age bracket, 18- 24, the incidence rate is generally low, below one person per
100000 people. Male incidence rate in this bracket is greater than the female incidence
rate, though as the age approaches 24 years the incidence rate seems to be equal. The
second age bracket, 25-34, has the incidence rate slightly higher than the previous age
bracket. The female incidence rate is generally higher than the male incidence rate here.
In the years 35-44, the incidence rate increases more but remains below 2 people per
100000. In the earlier years, female incidence rates are higher than those for males but
are exceeded by the male incidence rates towards 44 years. The next age bracket, 45-54,
has a steeper increase in incidence rates, with that increase being more pronounced in
males than females. By age 54, almost 4 persons per 100000 males have ALS while for
females its almost 2 people per 100000. In the age bracket 55-64, there is an exponential
increase in incidence rates, with males being significantly more affected than females. At
this age bracket male incidence is more than double that of females. In the ages 65-74,
the incidence levels for both continue to sharply increase, before peaking at around age
70 and dropping thereafter. Male incidence rates continue to be very high as compared to
the female ones which is clearly seen by a peak of approximately 11 per 100000 in males
compared to around 6 per 100000 in females. The next age group, 75-84, sees a sharp
decline in the incidence rates for both males and females. This could be from mortality of
those affected by the disease. The male incidence rates remain quite high as compared to
the female incidence rates. The last age group of 85+ years, sees a decline of the
incidence rates to zero. This could be because it is the age group where all remaining
survivors die out. Male incidence rates remain higher compared to the female incidence
rates.
2) Taking an average of the incidence rate by averaging the rate at age 25 and 34, the male
average incidence rate is (0.2 + 0.2) / 2=0.2, while that for females is (0.2 + 0.6) / 2= 0.4.
This shows that a female in this age group is twice as likely to have ALS as a male in this
same age group. Averaging in the same way over the age group 55-64, we obtain, for
males (4 + 8) / 2 = 6 and that for females is (2 + 4) / 2 = 3. A male in this age group is
therefore twice as likely as a female in this age group to have ALS.
3) Taking the mid points of the two age groups , there are approximately 0.4 males per
100000 with ALS in the age group 18-24 while there are approximately 11 males per
100000 with ALS in the age group 65-74. The percentage increase is therefore;
[( ( 11 – 0.4) / 0.4 ) * 100 = 2650 ]
There is a 2650 % increase in the incidence rates when you compare the male population
between ages 18-24 and those between 65-74.

Part 2
1) In 2013, the donations towards ALS were very in comparison to those of 2014. The 2013
daily figures are around 1 million dollars and they remained constant for each one of
those days recorded. The 2014 figures however are very different. Over the same August
period, the values start at approximately 4 million dollars and steadily increase each day.
By the end of the observation period it is approximately 70 million dollars. The ice
bucket challenge must have worked since the amount raised daily has clearly improved in
2014 when compared to a corresponding day in 2013. The daily increase noted in 2014 is
also an indication that more people were knowing about ALS each day and subsequently
contributing towards it.
2) The total percentage for patent and community service, public and professional education
and fundraising is; 20% + 9% + 2% = 31%.
The fold difference is; 67% / 31% = 2.16
More is spent on research because there is no known cure to the ailment. As such the
medical teams need a lot of resources to enable them know more about the disease and
come up with a cure. This expenses include overheads of the facility and also the
chemicals required. The fact that this is not such a common ailment also makes it more
expensive to research on. There will be a high expense if you try to get to a sample size
of 100 people scattered around the world.
References
1) Chiulli, M. (1999). Quantitative analysis, An introduction.
2) Edleson, M. (1991). Value averaging: The safe and easy strategy.
3) Stuart, A and Pavlittis, G. (2008). Multiscale methods, Averaging and
Homogenization.
4) Mitsumoto, H. (1998). Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.