Neuroepidemiology of vascular and Alzheimer's dementia among African-American women.
To better understand risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, demographic, medical, and other epidemiological factors were compared for 83 African-American women with Alzheimer's disease and 46 with vascular dementia. Overall, the risk-factor profiles for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia were similar to those in other studies. However, Alzheimer's patients had a high frequency of hypertension and a relatively high frequency of diabetes mellitus. The presence of such risk factors raises the possibility that there is a vascular component to the dementia in these African-American women with Alzheimer's disease. Neuropathological studies are needed to help answer this question.
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D044383:Black People; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D015994:Incidence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States; D001741:Black or African American