title: Relationship between body height and dementia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Structural and functional brain reserves, thought to develop in childhood and adolescence, may be critical in determining the age at onset of cognitive impairment. Body height is affected by childhood conditions that promote growth. The authors examine the relationship of height in midlife and subsequent dementia, Alzheimer disease (AD), and vascular dementia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dementia was evaluated from 1999 to 2001 in 1,892 men age 76 to 95. Height had been measured when these men participated in the Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease project in 1963. Age, socioeconomic status (SES), and area of birth were also assessed in 1963.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Older men and those with lower SES tended to be shorter. Relative to the shortest quartile, controlling for age, SES, and area of birth, the other quartiles had lesser respective odds ratios for dementia as a whole, AD, and vascular dementia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Height was inversely associated with dementia, AD, and vascular dementia in a male sample. Since height is associated with childhood nutrition and may be associated with other risk factors for dementia, efforts to improve early life conditions that maximize body growth may diminish or delay the onset of dementia in later life.
authors.affiliation: Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, One Gustave Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY 10029, USA. michal.beeri@mssm.edu
authors.forename: Michal Schnaider
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Beeri
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: Jeremy M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Silverman
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noy
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmeidler
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Goldbourt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires