title: Serum lipids are related to Alzheimer's pathology in nursing home residents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Studies of associations between serum lipids and Alzheimer's disease (AD) or other dementias in the elderly show conflicting results, perhaps due to misclassification of the various dementias.
  
  
  METHODS
  For 358 nursing home residents, serum lipids were studied at admission and diagnoses established at autopsy. We used defined neuropathological criteria to distinguish the presence of AD and to avoid errors of clinical dementia assessment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Residents with any AD pathology, as compared to those without AD pathology, had higher mean serum total cholesterol (TC; 200.4 vs. 185.9 mg/dl; p = 0.02) and higher mean low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL; 124.5 vs. 111.5 mg/dl; p = 0.03). Further, mean TC, LDL and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels all increased progressively with increasing pathological certainty of AD (p for trend = 0.001, 0.02 and 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TC and LDL were significantly related to pathologically defined AD. If serum lipids have a role in the pathogenesis of AD, interventions may modify the course of disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, N.Y., USA. glesser@jhha.org
authors.forename: Gerson T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Lesser
authors.forename: Vahram
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Haroutunian
authors.forename: Dushyant P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Purohit
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schnaider Beeri
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmeidler
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Honkanen
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Neufeld
authors.forename: Leslie S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Libow
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D008055:Lipids