Vascular risk aggravates the progression of Alzheimer's disease in a Chinese cohort.
To investigate whether vascular risk affects the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD), 415 AD patients aged 65 years old and over without cerebrovascular diseases were enrolled and administered with a structured interview to assess demography, vascular risk factors, and cognitive and functional status at baseline, and 324 AD patients were followed up annually for 5 years. A mixed random effects regression model was used to identify the association between vascular risk, individual vascular risk factors, and the progression of AD. After adjusting for confounding factors, AD patients with vascular risk had faster cognitive and functional decline rates than the subjects without such risk factors. Individual vascular risk factors including hypertension and diabetes mellitus, transient ischemic attack and cerebrovascular accident during the follow-up were independently associated with the progression of AD. Our findings suggest that vascular risk aggravates the progression of AD and may be involved in the etiologic process of AD. As such, control of vascular risk may slow down the progression of AD.
Li
Jing
J
Department of Neurology, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Zhang
Meng
M
Xu
Zhi-Qiang
ZQ
Gao
Chang-Yue
CY
Fang
Chuan-Qin
CQ
Deng
Juan
J
Yan
Jia-Chuan
JC
Wang
Yan-Jiang
YJ
Zhou
Hua-Dong
HD
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000209:etiology*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D002681:China; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric