title: Conversion to dementia from questionable dementia in an ethnic Chinese population.
abstract: We investigated the conversion rate and the risk factors for conversion to dementia from questionable dementia in 124 ethnic Chinese subjects with questionable dementia at a memory clinic of a university hospital. They were evaluated annually based on cognitive testing, the clinical dementia rating scale, and a psychiatrist's interview for depression and anxiety. Apolipoprotein E genotyping was performed on 111 of these questionable dementia subjects. All subjects were evaluated at least twice during the follow-up period of 20.4 +/- 12.4 months. During that period, 42 questionable dementia subjects were diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease, with an annual conversion rate to dementia of 19.9%. Compared with the 82 nonconverters, the 42 converters were significantly older, had lower cognitive, depression, and anxiety scores, and a higher frequency of the apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele. Cox regression analysis revealed that the Alzheimer's disease converters had lower scores for orientation, short-term memory, and anxiety, and a higher frequency of the apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele than the nonconverters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei. hcliu@vghtpe.gov.tw
authors.forename: Hsiu-Chih
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Pei-Ning
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hsiao-Chien
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ker-Neng
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chen-Jee
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Chia-Yih
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ping-Huang
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4 / Q000235:genetics; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018450:Disease Progression; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012737:Sex Factors; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D053327:Apolipoprotein E4