title: Risk factors in Alzheimer's disease: a clinicopathologic study.
abstract: We investigated potential risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a clinicopathologic study of 407 patients with definite AD, 100 non-Alzheimer dementia patients, and 50 normal subjects. The AD patients had more first-degree relatives with dementia than the non-AD dementia group (odds ratio of 1.85, 95% confidence interval of 1.07-3.20) or the normal elderly (odds ratio of 3.60, 95% confidence interval of 1.50-8.64) but did not have significantly more head injuries, medical and psychiatric illnesses, or relatives with Down's syndrome. The AD patients with a family history of dementia had their dementia at a later age than those without an affected relative. These findings indicate a familial risk for AD that is greater than for other dementing illnesses and has age-related penetrance. This study does not support other putative risk factors for AD such as head trauma and familial Down's syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center, MN 55101.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Mendez
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Underwood
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Zander
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Mastri
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Frey
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D003704:Dementia / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D015161:Dementia, Multi-Infarct / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D012727:Sex Characteristics