Predictors of shorter survival in flail-arm syndrome

In a study of individuals with flail-arm syndrome, a subset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, distal onset did not appear to correlate to age of onset, sex, fasciculations at onset, diagnostic delay, progression rate, time to respiratory involvement nor survival with the exception of upper motor neuron signs which was associated with shorter survival (P=0.032).
Instead, rate of progression (P<0.001) and upper motor neuron signs (P=0.003) were independently identified as risk factors for shorter survival.