Up to 1 in 10 people diagnosed with ALS have a family history of the disease, which may indicate that there is a genetic component involved. This is known as familial ALS (fALS). People who do not have a known family history of the disease are diagnosed with sporadic ALS (sALS), and while it may once have been assumed that people with sALS did not have a genetic component to their disease, we now know that they sometimes do.
Genetic testing can help determine the likelihood that a family member could be affected by ALS, and how likely it is that the disease will be passed down to your children.