{
  "id": 1992632,
  "title": "US Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard veterans face higher rates of rare nerve disease ALS than other vets, study finds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/us-air-force-navy-and-coast-guard-veterans-face-higher-rates-of-rare",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-19T18:31:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Business Insider",
    "slug": "business-insider",
    "url": "https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-navy-and-coast-guard-vets-higher-rates-als-2026-8"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "A new study published in the journal Neurology has found that U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard veterans face higher rates of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, compared to Army veterans. The study analyzed records for nearly 10 million veterans receiving Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare between 2000 and 2024, and found that ALS rates were 15% to 29% higher among veterans from these three branches. The research also revealed that male officers had a 64% higher ALS rate than enlisted veterans, though the study did not determine if specific military jobs or exposures were responsible for the differences. While ALS is a rare and often fatal degenerative disease, military service has been known to increase the risk of developing ALS. The study's authors cautioned that even though the increases in ALS risk associated with branch and rank represent modest increases in overall risk, the findings highlight the need for further investigation into possible service-related exposures.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}