European Prevention of Alzheimer's Dementia Registry: Recruitment and prescreening approach for a longitudinal cohort and prevention trials.

Introduction: It is a challenge to find participants for Alzheimer's disease (AD) prevention trials within a short period of time. The European Prevention of Alzheimer's Dementia Registry (EPAD) aims to facilitate recruitment by preselecting subjects from ongoing cohort studies. This article introduces this novel approach.

Homocysteine and holo-transcobalamin and the risk of dementia and Alzheimers disease: a prospective study.

Background: Elevated total homocysteine (tHcy) levels may be caused by vitamin B12 deficiency and are linked to Alzheimers disease (AD) in some studies, although the evidence is mixed. Another marker of vitamin B12 deficiency, holo-transcobalamin (holo-TC), has not been studied in a prospective setting.

Objective: To investigate the association between tHcy and holo-TC and the subsequent development of dementia and AD in a prospective study.

Mid- and late-life diabetes in relation to the risk of dementia: a population-based twin study.

Objective: We aimed to verify the association between diabetes and the risk of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular dementia in twins and to explore whether genetic and early-life environmental factors could contribute to this association.

Research Design And Methods: This study included 13,693 twin individuals aged > or =65 years. Dementia was diagnosed according to DSM-IV (Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed.

Prevention of common neurodegenerative disorders in the elderly.

Since population aging has become a worldwide phenomenon, the burden of the age-related neurodegenerative diseases is expected to increase dramatically in both developed and developing nations. Alzheimer's disease is the most common neurodegenerative disorder among old people. Prevention may represent an ideal solution to the challenge posed by this condition.

Terminal-decline effects for select cognitive tasks after controlling for preclinical dementia.

Objective: In a previous study, the authors found no accelerated decline in close proximity to death for a measure of global cognitive functioning, after excluding persons in a preclinical phase of dementia. However, specific cognitive tasks might be more sensitive to terminal-decline effects. The purpose of this study was to explore possible terminal-decline effects for a range of cognitive tasks after controlling for preclinical dementia.

APOE-related mortality: effect of dementia, cardiovascular disease and gender.

Allele-frequency comparisons between younger and older populations suggest an effect of apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) on mortality, not consistently confirmed by longitudinal data. Our aim was to assess the effect of APOE on survival taking into account the possible contribution of Alzheimer's disease, other dementias, ischemic heart- and cerebrovascular disease (IHCD). In a community-based longitudinal study, the Kungsholmen Project, 75+ year-old individuals (n=1094) were examined, and followed for 18 years.

Occurrence of cognitive impairment and dementia in the community: a 9-year-long prospective study.

Objective: To determine incidence rates of non-dementia cognitive impairment, to examine the impact of attrition due to death on the observed incidence estimates, and to compare the observed and corrected estimates of non-dementia cognitive impairment with dementia incidence rates.

Methods: A total of 1,435 persons without dementia aged 75+ from the Kungsholmen Project were evaluated for occurrence of dementia over 9 years. A total of 1,070 cognitively unimpaired subjects were also followed using amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and other cognitive impairment, no dementia (OCIND) definitions.

Late-life body mass index and dementia incidence: nine-year follow-up data from the Kungsholmen Project.

Objectives: To describe the association between late-life body mass index (BMI) and dementia development with a time perspective and to investigate the effect of weight changes on dementia incidence.

Design: Three-, 6-, and 9-year follow-up study.

Setting: The Kungsholmen Project.

Cerebrovascular disease, APOE epsilon4 allele and cognitive decline in a cognitively normal population.

Objectives: To investigate whether cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and apolipoprotein E (APOE) epsilon4 allele were associated with cognitive decline and whether the relationship between CVD and cognitive decline varied by APOE epsilon4 status.

Methods: A total of 809 cognitively normal community-dwelling residents aged >75 years were followed to detect subjects with cognitive decline, defined as follow-up. Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score was >10% decease of the baseline score.

Heart failure and risk of dementia and Alzheimer disease: a population-based cohort study.

Background: Heart failure has been linked to cognitive impairment in several previous studies, but to our knowledge, no investigations have explored the relationship between heart failure and the risk of dementia. We sought to examine the hypothesis that heart failure is a risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer disease.

Methods: A community-based cohort of 1301 individuals 75 years or older and without dementia in Stockholm, Sweden, was examined 3 times over a 9-year period to detect patients with dementia and Alzheimer disease using the diagnostic criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition.

Contrasting cognitive trajectories of impending death and preclinical dementia in the very old.

Background: Both impending death and preclinical dementia are associated with cognitive impairment in old age, although their effects on cognitive functioning have rarely been examined within the same study.

Methods: Participants (n = 1,200, aged 75+ years) from a community-based study completed a measure of global cognitive performance (the Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE]) at 3-year intervals over an 11-year period. Level and change of MMSE performance were compared for three groups: persons in close proximity to death, persons in a preclinical phase of dementia, and persons who remained alive and nondemented throughout the study.

Anaemia increases the risk of dementia in cognitively intact elderly.

Although cross-sectional studies found an association between anaemia and dementia, longitudinal studies provided contradictory results. We hypothesize that anaemia might increase the risk of developing dementia because of chronic brain hypo-oxygenation. Using baseline data from a community-based longitudinal study, the Kungsholmen Project, Stockholm, Sweden, we clinically followed 1435 non demented subjects aged 75-95 years for 3 years to detect incident dementia cases (DSM-III-R criteria).

Similar patterns of cognitive deficits in the preclinical phases of vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

We investigated whether (1) cognitive deficits are present among persons who will be diagnosed with vascular dementia (VaD) 3 years later, and (2) the pattern of such deficits is similar to that observed in preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). The VaD diagnosis was a diagnosis of post-stroke dementia. Population-based samples of 15 incident VaD cases, 43 incident AD cases, and 149 normal controls were compared on tests of episodic and short-term memory, verbal fluency, and visuospatial skill.

Gender and rural-urban differences in reported health status by older people in Bangladesh.

The study aims to (i) describe regional variation and gender differences in health status of older people (60 years and older) in Bangladesh, indicated by self-reported health problems and functional ability; (ii) explore influence of socio-economic factors on health status of older people. In a cross-sectional study in rural and urban Bangladesh, 696 older persons were asked about their health problems and ability to manage activities of daily living (ADL). More than 95% of older people reported health problems.

What is mild cognitive impairment? Variations in definitions and evolution of nondemented persons with cognitive impairment.

Numerous studies have endeavoured to explore the nature of cognitive impairment in nondemented elderly persons. Comparison of this literature is hampered by huge variations in criteria and methodology. Despite these limitations, there are repeated reports that nondemented persons with cognitive impairment have a higher chance of progressing to dementia.

Dementing disorders in the elderly: evolution of disease severity over 7 years.

The goal of this study was to describe the evolution of dementia severity in a very old dementia population. We investigated a representative group of demented subjects gathered from a population-based study (n = 223). Changes in cognition, functioning, and performance on global scales were followed over a period of 7 years.