An association of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I infection with vascular dementia.
Subjects ranging in age from 50 to 89 years old, either with or without dementia were studied by both ELISA for anti-human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) gag 100-130 antibody and by cranial CT in order to clarify the relationship between HTLV-I infection and dementia. The frequency of anti-HTLV-I antibody was found to be significantly higher in the patients with dementia (24/130, 18.5%) than in those without dementia (11/139, 7.9%) (P=0.0169). Among the various types of dementia, HTLV-I seropositivity was found to be significantly associated with vascular dementia (11/48, 23%) (P=0.0087), but not with Alzheimer type dementia. In addition, HTLV-I seropositivity was also associated with Babinski sign, and the severity of cerebral infarction, ventricular dilatation and periventricular lucency on CT. The presence of HTLV-I therefore appears to be one of the risk factors for vascular dementia in HTLV-I endemic areas.
Kira
J
J
Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Hamada
T
T
Kawano
Y
Y
Okayama
M
M
Yamasaki
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology*; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D012307:Risk Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014774:Virulence