부산대학교 도서관

We examined 9 years' incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease previously associated with a highselenium environment, in a cohort of 5,182 residents of Reggio Emilia, Italy. This cohort had accidentally been exposed to drinking water with high selenium content. Four cases were diagnosed during the followup. Using the remainder of the municipal population as the reference group, the standardized incidence ratio was 4.22 95 confidence interval 1.1510.80. The standardized incidence ratio was higher after limiting the analysis to the subcohort with the longest ascertainable exposure period. The findings appear to confirm a causal association between overexposure to environmental selenium and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.