Effects of white matter hyperintensities, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and cognition on activities of daily living: Differences between Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.

Introduction: Disability is common across Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are prevalent in both diagnoses and associated with disability; both diagnoses show neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and impaired cognition.

Methods: In AD and DLB, we examined if WMHs, NPS, and cognition associate with basic and/or instrumental activities of daily living (BADLs and/or IADLs) cross-sectionally, and longitudinally over ≈1.

ε4, white matter hyperintensities, and cognition in Alzheimer and Lewy body dementia.

Objective: To determine if ε4 influences the association between white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and cognitive impairment in Alzheimer disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

Methods: A total of 289 patients (AD = 239; DLB = 50) underwent volumetric MRI, neuropsychological testing, and ε4 genotyping. Total WMH volumes were quantified.

12 Year Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms in Community-Dwelling Older Adults and the Subsequent Risk of Death Over 13 Years.

Background: Populations of depressed persons are typically comprised of individuals with different courses of depression and thus might carry different risks of death. This study aimed to identify different trajectories of depressive symptoms in community-dwelling older adults and study the risk of death across these trajectories.

Methods: In the population-based Rotterdam Study, depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale) at three examination rounds (1993-2004) from 3,325 dementia-free participants (mean age 64.

Mild cognitive impairment and risk of depression and anxiety: A population-based study.

Introduction: Many people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) suffer from concomitant depression or anxiety. Whether MCI increases the risk of future depression or anxiety is unknown.

Methods: In the Rotterdam Study, cross-sectional (n = 4168) and longitudinal associations (n = 2967) of MCI with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-depressive and anxiety disorders-were assessed (2002-2005 to 2009-2011).

Association of Coffee Consumption with MRI Markers and Cognitive Function: A Population-Based Study.

Background: Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages worldwide and has been of considerable interest in research on cognition and dementia.

Objective: To investigate the effect of coffee on preclinical brain MRI markers of dementia and cognitive performance.

Methods: In 2,914 participants from the population-based Rotterdam Study (mean age: 59.

Mid- to Late-Life Trajectories of Blood Pressure and the Risk of Stroke: The Rotterdam Study.

Hypertension is a major modifiable risk factor for stroke. Associations of blood pressure with incident stroke are mostly based on single or average blood pressure levels. However, this approach does not take into account long-term trajectories of blood pressure, which can vary considerably in the elderly.

10-year trajectories of depressive symptoms and risk of dementia: a population-based study.

Background: Late-life depressive symptoms have been extensively studied for their relationship with incident dementia, but have been typically assessed at a single timepoint. Such an approach neglects the course of depression, which, given its remitting and relapsing nature, might provide further insights into the complex association of depression with dementia. We therefore repeatedly measured depressive symptoms in a population of adults over a decade to study the subsequent risk of dementia.

Higher Education Is Associated with a Lower Risk of Dementia after a Stroke or TIA. The Rotterdam Study.

Background: Higher education is associated with a lower risk of dementia, possibly because of a higher tolerance to subclinical neurodegenerative pathology. Whether higher education also protects against dementia after clinical stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) remains unknown.

Methods: Within the population-based Rotterdam Study, 12,561 participants free of stroke, TIA and dementia were followed for occurrence of stroke, TIA and dementia.

The N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide, and risk of dementia and cognitive decline: a 10-year follow-up study in the general population.

Background: The N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) has a well-documented prognostic value for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and higher levels are associated with cognitive-dysfunction in patients with CVD. However, how NT-proBNP relates to incident dementia and cognitive-decline in community-dwelling persons is unknown.

Methods: Between 1997 and 2001, serum NT-proBNP was measured in 6040 participants (mean age 69 years, 57% women) free of heart-failure and dementia from the Rotterdam Study.

Positive affect is not associated with incidence of cardiovascular disease: a population-based study of older persons.

Introduction: The relationship between positive psychological well-being (PPWB) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is inconsistent across different CVD outcomes and for different PPWB constructs, such as positive affect. In addition, the relationship between PPWB and CVD as a composite measure is rarely assessed.

Objective: To assess whether positive affect is protective of incident CVD.

Genetic diversity is a predictor of mortality in humans.

Background: It has been well-established, both by population genetics theory and direct observation in many organisms, that increased genetic diversity provides a survival advantage. However, given the limitations of both sample size and genome-wide metrics, this hypothesis has not been comprehensively tested in human populations. Moreover, the presence of numerous segregating small effect alleles that influence traits that directly impact health directly raises the question as to whether global measures of genomic variation are themselves associated with human health and disease.

Subjective memory complaints and the risk of stroke.

Background And Purpose: Persons with cognitive impairment, as assessed by cognitive tests, are at a higher risk of stroke. Subjective memory complaints might be an earlier marker for stroke, especially in persons with higher education. Their cognitive reserve might mask their cognitive impairment during cognitive testing.

Investigating the possible causal association of smoking with depression and anxiety using Mendelian randomisation meta-analysis: the CARTA consortium.

Objectives: To investigate whether associations of smoking with depression and anxiety are likely to be causal, using a Mendelian randomisation approach.

Design: Mendelian randomisation meta-analyses using a genetic variant (rs16969968/rs1051730) as a proxy for smoking heaviness, and observational meta-analyses of the associations of smoking status and smoking heaviness with depression, anxiety and psychological distress.

Participants: Current, former and never smokers of European ancestry aged ≥16 years from 25 studies in the Consortium for Causal Analysis Research in Tobacco and Alcohol (CARTA).

Coffee consumption and incident dementia.

Coffee consumption has been frequently reported for its protective association with incident dementia. However, this association has mostly been reported in studies with short follow-up periods, and it remains unclear to what extent reverse causality influences this association. Studying the long-term effect of coffee consumption on dementia with stratified follow-up time may help resolve this issue.

Anxiety is not associated with the risk of dementia or cognitive decline: the Rotterdam Study.

Objective: Anxiety and depression frequently co-occur in the elderly and in patients with dementia. Prior research has shown that depression is related to the risk of dementia, but the effect of anxiety on dementia remains unclear. We studied whether anxiety symptoms and anxiety disorders are associated with the risk of dementia and cognition.

Depressive symptoms predict incident dementia during short- but not long-term follow-up period.

Background: Whether depression is a long-term risk factor for dementia or represents a dementia prodrome is unclear. Therefore, we examined the relationship between depressive symptoms and dementia during short and long follow-up in a population-based cohort.

Methods: In the Rotterdam Study, 4393 nondemented individuals were followed for incident dementia for 13.

Association between circulating adiponectin levels and polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Background: Low adiponectin levels in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) have been largely attributed to obesity which is common among these patients. In addition, evidence also suggests that low adiponectin in PCOS may be related to insulin resistance (IR) in these women. However, studies on the role of adiponectin in younger and lean patients are limited.

Water-pipe smoking and albuminuria: new dog with old tricks.

Water-pipe (WP) smoking is on rise worldwide for the past few years, particularly among younger individuals. Growing evidence indicates that WP smoking is as harmful as cigarette smoking. To date, most of the research has focused on acute health effects of WP smoking, and evidence remains limited when it comes to chronic health effects in relation to long-term WP smoking.

Water-pipe smoking and metabolic syndrome: a population-based study.

Water-pipe (WP) smoking has significantly increased in the last decade worldwide. Compelling evidence suggests that the toxicants in WP smoke are similar to that of cigarette smoke. The WP smoking in a single session could have acute harmful health effects even worse than cigarette smoking.

Areca nut chewing and systemic inflammation: evidence of a common pathway for systemic diseases.

Background: Areca nut, the seed of fruit of an oriental palm, known as Areca catechu, is commonly chewed in many countries. Diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, oropharyngeal and oesophageal cancers have been associated with areca nut chewing and the mechanism by which areca nut chewing increases the risk of systemic diseases remains elusive. We hypothesize that systemic inflammation may be elevated among areca nut users, which is linked with many systemic diseases.

Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio as a measure of systemic inflammation in prevalent chronic diseases in Asian population.

Background: Preliminary evidence has suggested the role of inflammation in development and prognosis of cardiovascular diseases and cancers. Most of the prognostic studies failed to account for the effects of co-morbid conditions as these might have raised the systemic inflammation. We used neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a measure of systemic inflammation and investigated its association with prevalent chronic conditions.