title: Demonstrating the case that AD is a vascular disease: epidemiologic evidence.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most frequent type of dementia in old age. The pathology of AD is not well understood. One hypothesis states that AD has a vascular basis. This hypothesis is controversial because AD has traditionally been studied and treated as a separate disease from vascular dementia. This article reviews the epidemiologic evidence supporting an association between AD and two major vascular risk factors-blood pressure and diabetes. Both methodologic and biologic explanations for these associations are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Intramural Research Program, Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography and Biometry, Neuroepidemiology Section, National Institute on Aging, 7201 Wisconsin Avenue, Gateway Building, Suite 3C-309, Bethesda, MD 20892-9205, USA. launerl@nia.nih.gov
authors.forename: Lenore J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Launer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*