title: Prevalence and pathology of dementia with Lewy bodies in the oldest old: a comparison with other dementing disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While the prevalence of Alzheimer disease (AD) increases with age, little is known about the frequency of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) in the oldest old. A retrospective hospital-based study compared the relative prevalence of DLB among very old individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  1,100 consecutive autopsy cases of demented patients aged over 70 years (mean age: 83.9 ± 5.4 years) were examined using standardized neuropathological methods and current diagnostic consensus criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Evaluation of three age groups (8th-10th decade) showed a significant increase in the relative prevalence of AD with cerebrovascular lesions including mixed dementia, while AD with Lewy body (LB) pathology showed a mild but insignificant age-related increase. Both 'pure' AD and vascular dementia showed a mild but insignificant decline, while DLB (without severe AD pathology) decreased progressively. While the severity of Lewy pathology in DLB slightly decreased with age, concomitant Alzheimer-like pathology increased progressively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Whether DLB in the oldest old represents a distinct group is a matter of discussion, but the relative prevalence of AD with LB in our sample remained fairly stable.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Neurobiology, Vienna, Austria. kurt.jellinger@univie.ac.at
authors.forename: Kurt A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Jellinger
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Attems
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016631:Lewy Bodies / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008032:Limbic System / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D019579:Neocortex / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D051844:alpha-Synuclein