A first-of-its-kind Hadassah study led by Dr. Marc Gotkine, neurologist and head of Hadassah’s ALS clinic at the Hadassah Medical Organization, found that IDF veterans face an increased risk of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disease, with the risk especially high for paratroopers, as reported in Ynet and Maariv.
According to this study, which analyzed nearly 200 combat veterans with ALS and compared them to nearly 2,000 healthy veterans, matching them by sex and age, 46% of ALS patients had served in combat positions, compared with just 22.7% of the control group. Regarding paratroopers, the gap was wider, with 10.5% of ALS patients having undergone parachute training, compared to only 1.1% in the healthy group.
Most of the research from previous studies linking military service to ALS has focused on Western militaries, such as that of the US, raising concerns about selection bias, or suggestion that people with certain physical or genetic traits may be more inclined to volunteer for service.
“This is what makes our Israeli study so important,” said Dr. Gotkine in the Ynet article. “Because IDF service is mandatory, the bias is far lower. Also, combat soldiers here are frequently exposed to real, high-stress operational environments — unlike countries like Denmark, where military service doesn’t necessarily involve such exposure. That gives us a unique perspective for identifying real associations.”
Read the articles in Ynet and Maariv. (Maariv is in Hebrew. You can translate it to English.)
