Vascular Risk Factors, Cognition and Dementia Incidence over 6 Years in the Sydney Older Persons Study
- 25 April 2003
- journal article
- Published by S. Karger AG in Neuroepidemiology
- Vol. 22 (3) , 165-171
- https://doi.org/10.1159/000069886
Abstract
The specific contributions of factors associated with an increased risk of stroke to cognitive decline and vascular dementia in elderly people remain somewhat unclear. We investigated the prevalence of vascular risk factors (RFs) and their role on the incidence of dementia, cognitive decline and death over a 6-year period in a sample of 377 non-demented community dwellers aged 75 years and over at the time of study entry. Presence and history of vascular RFs and cognitive decline over 6 years were ascertained using direct interviews, medical and cognitive examinations. Hypertension and history of heart disease were very common affecting about 50% of the participants. At 6 years, 114 (30%) participants had died, and 63 (16.7%) met diagnostic criteria for dementia. Hypertension was significantly associated with a greater cognitive decline but not with dementia. Smoking and stroke diagnosis showed a significant positive association with death. Reported hypercholesterolaemia was found to be associated with a protective effect for the development of dementia, for cognitive decline and for death over the 6-year period. All other associations were non-significant. Figures of dementia incidence are similar to previous studies in contrast to the lack of anticipated effects of the vascular RFs. The results indicate that in very old participants, the impact of vascular RFs changes with time and may no longer contribute to the development of dementia and cognitive decline.Keywords
This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- Preclinical syndromes predict dementia: the Sydney older persons studyJournal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 2001
- The incidence of dementia in an Australian community population: the Sydney older persons studyInternational Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2001
- A Reevaluation of the Duration of Survival after the Onset of DementiaNew England Journal of Medicine, 2001
- Effects of lovastatin on cognitive function and psychological well-being∗∗Access the “Journal Club” discussion of this paper at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ajmselect/The American Journal of Medicine, 2000
- Vascular risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease:Neurobiology of Aging, 2000
- The Journal of Neurology and the European familyZeitschrift für Neurologie, 2000
- Screening for Coronary Heart Disease in Elderly Men Based on Current and Past Cholesterol LevelsJournal of Clinical Epidemiology, 1999
- Status of Risk Factors for Vascular DementiaNeuroepidemiology, 1998
- The association between midlife blood pressure levels and late-life cognitive function. The Honolulu-Asia Aging StudyPublished by American Medical Association (AMA) ,1995
- “Mini-mental state”Journal of Psychiatric Research, 1975