Estrogen Receptor Genes, Cognitive Decline, and Alzheimer Disease.

Background And Objectives: Lifetime risk of Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia is twofold higher in women compared with men, and low estrogen levels in postmenopause have been suggested as a possible contributor. We examined 3 (, , and ) variants in association with AD traits as an indirect method to test the association between estrogen and AD in women. Although the study focus was on women, in a comparison, we separately examined molecular variants in men.

Mixed brain pathologies account for most dementia cases in community-dwelling older persons.

Objective: To examine the spectrum of neuropathology in persons from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal community-based clinical-pathologic cohort study.

Methods: The study includes older persons who agreed to annual clinical evaluation and brain donation. We examined the neuropathologic diagnoses, including Alzheimer disease (AD) (NIA-Reagan Criteria), cerebral infarctions, and Parkinson disease/Lewy body disease (PD/LBD), in the first 141 autopsies.

Changes in disability before and after myocardial infarction in older adults.

Background: Disability in older adults is thought to occur primarily as a consequence of clinical disease episodes. However, the temporal relationship between clinical disease and disability has received little systematic attention.

Methods: Data from a prospective population-based study of 2812 older adults were analyzed to examine changes in disability before and after acute myocardial infarction.