title: A case-control study of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Switzerland: analysis of potential risk factors with regard to an increased CJD incidence in the years 2001-2004.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In 2001, the observed annual mortality from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in Switzerland increased from less than 1.5 to 2.6 per million inhabitants. An underlying cause could not be identified.
  
  
  METHODS
  To analyse potential risk factors for sCJD in Switzerland, close relatives of 69 sCJD-patients and 224 frequency age-matched controls were interviewed in a case-control study using a standardised questionnaire. 135 potential risk factors including socio-demographics, medical history, occupation and diet were analysed by logistic regression adjusting for age, sex and education.
  
  
  RESULTS
  sCJD patients were more likely to have travelled abroad, worked at an animal laboratory, undergone invasive dental treatment, orthopaedic surgery, ophthalmologic surgery after 1980, regular GP visits, taken medication regularly, and consumed kidney. No differences between patients and controls were found for residency, family history, and exposure to environmental and other dietary factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although some factors were significantly more frequent among sCJD-cases, this study did not reveal specific explanations for the increased incidence of deaths due to sporadic CJD observed in Switzerland since 2001. Results have to be interpreted with caution due to multiple testing and possible recall bias in association with a long incubation period. The most plausible reason for the increase in Swiss sCJD cases after 2000 is an improved case ascertainment. Therefore, underreporting of cases might well have occurred before the year 2001, and the "real" yearly incidence of sCJD might not be lower than, but rather above 2 per million inhabitants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. jessica.ruegger@gmail.com
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruegger
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stoeck
authors.forename: Lorenz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Amsler
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blaettler
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zwahlen
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aguzzi
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Glatzel
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Eckert
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011336:Probability; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology