Statistics

DID YOU KNOW...

... 1 in 100,000 people are diagnosed with MND every day
... The cause of the disease is unknown
... Death is inevitable with this disease and the average life span is 2-3 years
... Every day at least 1 person dies with MND

Prognosis

Because this disease progresses so fast, patients show a noticeable decline in health over only a few months. Because of this, 50% of patients die within 14 months, with the other 50% usually dying within 14 months after that. And on average, 1 in 5 MND patients survive 5 years, and 1 in 10 survive 10 years. Professor Stephen Hawking is a well known MND patient, because he has survived more than 40 years with the
disease.

Epidemiology

Out of the approximate 2 in 100,000 that get MND each year, men have a slightly higher chance of getting the disease than women, and the USA has about 5,600 cases of MND each year. But by far the greatest risk factor of gaining the disease is age, with most symptoms usually showing between the ages of 50-70. Patients that gain MND under the age of 50 are called “young onset MND”, although the incident rate of onset has declined over the last onset. Age is not the only risk of gaining MND, as there are known to be three hot spots for MND in the world. One is the Kii peninsula of Japan, another tribal population in Papua New Guinea, and the other on the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.