Serum lipids are related to Alzheimer's pathology in nursing home residents.
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.
Lesser
Gerson T
GT
Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, N.Y., USA. glesser@jhha.org
Haroutunian
Vahram
V
Purohit
Dushyant P
DP
Schnaider Beeri
Michal
M
Schmeidler
James
J
Honkanen
Linda
L
Neufeld
Richard
R
Libow
Leslie S
LS
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
D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D008055:Lipids