title: Prevalence of cerebrovascular lesions in Parkinson's disease. A postmortem study.
abstract: Data on the relationship between Parkinson's disease (PD) and stroke have been conflicting, some studies showing a reduced risk of stroke during life, and others indicating an increased risk of stroke-related death. Consecutive cases (n=617) of autopsy-proven idiopathic PD (Lewy body disease of the brain stem type) and age-matched controls (n=535) were compared using current routine and immunohistochemical methods. The total frequency of cerebrovascular lesions (lacunes, amyloid angiopathy, white matter lesions, old and recent ischemic infarcts and hemorrhages) in PD (44.0%) was higher than in controls (32.8%), while acute, often fatal ischemic or hemorrhagic strokes were less frequent in parkinsonian patients (1.8% vs 2.6%). Like previous postmortem findings in a smaller cohort, these findings neither indicate a protective effect against stroke nor a greater susceptibility to death from stroke in the populations studied. Cognitive impairment in PD appears to be largely independent from coexistent vascular pathology except in cases with severe cerebrovascular lesions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Neurobiology, Kenyongasse 18/7, 1070 Vienna, Austria. kurt.jellinger@univie.ac.at
authors.forename: Kurt A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Jellinger
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000378:metabolism; D001344:Autopsy; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D051843:Synucleins; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D051843:Synucleins; D016875:tau Proteins