title: Blood inflammatory markers and risk of dementia: The Conselice Study of Brain Aging.
abstract: Incidence studies of blood inflammatory markers as predictors of dementia in older age are few and did not take into account hyperhomocysteinemia, although this condition is associated with both inflammation and increased risk of dementia. We investigated the relationships of baseline serum C-reactive protein (CRP), serum interleukin 6 (IL6), plasma alpha-1-antichymotrypsin, and hyperhomocysteinemia (defined as plasma total homocysteine>15 micromol/L) with risk of incident Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) in a dementia-free Italian population-based elderly cohort (n=804, 53.2% women, mean age 74 years) with 4 years of follow-up. No inflammatory marker, alone or in combination, predicted AD risk whereas the combination of high CRP and high IL6 was associated with risk of VaD (HR, 2.56; 95%CI, 1.21-5.50) independently of socio-demographic confounders, traditional risk factors and hyperhomocysteinemia. By contrast, in the same model, hyperhomocysteinemia was independently associated with AD (HR, 1.91; 95%CI, 1.02-3.56) but not VaD risk. Blood inflammatory markers are associated with increased VaD risk but do not predict AD, which seems selectively associated with hyperhomocysteinemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Cardioangiology, and Hepatology, University Hospital S. Orsola-Malpighi, Via Massarenti, 9, 40138 Bologna, Italy. ravaglia@med.unibo.it
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ravaglia
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Forti
authors.forename: Fabiola
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maioli
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chiappelli
authors.forename: Fausta
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Montesi
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tumini
authors.forename: Erminia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Licastro
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Patterson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D003704:Dementia / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000097:blood*; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016207:Cytokines; D007155:Immunologic Factors