title: Plasma clusterin levels and risk of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Genetic variation in the clusterin gene has been associated with Alzheimer Disease (AD), and the clusterin protein is thought to play a mechanistic role. We explored the associations of clusterin plasma levels with incident dementia, AD, and stroke.
  
  
  METHODS
  Plasma clusterin was assessed in 1532 nondemented participants from the Framingham Study Offspring cohort between 1998 and 2001 (mean age, 69 ± 6; 53% women). We related clusterin levels to risk of incident dementia, AD, and stroke using Cox-proportional hazards models and examined potential interactions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant interaction of plasma clusterin levels with age was observed. Clusterin was significantly associated with increased risk of dementia among elderly persons (>80 years; hazard ratio [HR], 95% confidence interval = 6.25, 1.64-23.89; P = .007) and with decreased risk of dementia (HR = 0.53, 0.32-0.88; P = .013) and stroke (HR = 0.78, 0.63-0.97; P = .029) among younger participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The association between plasma clusterin levels and risk of dementia and stroke may be modified by age or an age-related factor.
authors.affiliation: Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Galit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Weinstein
authors.affiliation: Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA; Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Alexa S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Beiser
authors.affiliation: Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Preis
authors.affiliation: Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Courchesne
authors.affiliation: Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA; Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chouraki
authors.affiliation: Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA; The Population Sciences Branch of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.affiliation: Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA; Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Sudha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seshadri
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Dementia; Epidemiology; Plasma clusterin; Risk factors; Stroke