title: Senile systemic amyloidosis, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, and dementia in a very old Finnish population.
abstract: Senile systemic amyloidosis (SSA) and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) are amyloid disorders, which typically manifest with old age. The aim of our study was to examine the possible association of these disorders in very old Finns. We performed a prospective, population-based post mortem study and used histological and immunohistochemical staining methods to verify the presence of these types of amyloid. All 63 subjects (59% of the 107 individuals 95 years of age or more, who died during the 10-year follow-up study), 53 women and 10 men), had been neurologically examined. The prevalence of SSA and its association with CAA, dementia, and neuropathologically verified AD was analyzed. Overall SSA occurred in 23 (37%) and CAA in 28 (44%) of the 63 subjects. At clinical examination 41 individuals (65%) were demented; 24 (38%) had Alzheimer's disease. SSA showed no association with the presence of CAA (P = 0.45), clinical dementia (P = 0.09), or Alzheimer's disease (P = 0.21), or sex (P = 0.53). Our prospective population based study shows that SSA and CAA are frequent in very old Finns, but they do not associate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. maarit.tanskanen@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Maarit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanskanen
authors.forename: Sari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kiuru-Enari
authors.forename: Pentti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tienari
authors.forename: Tuomo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Polvikoski
authors.forename: Auli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verkkoniemi
authors.forename: Sari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rastas
authors.forename: Raimo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sulkava
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paetau
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016657:Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male