TY - JOUR
T1 - Risk of death from alzheimer's disease in a community population of older persons
AU - Evans, Denis A.
AU - Smith, Laurel A.
AU - Scherr, Paul A.
AU - Albert, Marilyn S.
AU - Funkenstein, H. Harris
AU - Hebert, Liesi E.
N1 - Funding Information:
6 Division of Neurology, Bngham and Women's Hospital, and Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. * Deceased. Reprint requests to Dr. Denis A. Evans, Center for Research on Health and Aging, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, 1653 West Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL 60612 This work was supported by a contract (NO1-AG-1-2106), a cooperative agreement (AG 06789), and a grant (AG 05362) from the National Institute on Aging. The authors thank the residents of East Boston, Massachusetts, and the staff of the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center for their cooperation and support.
PY - 1991/8/15
Y1 - 1991/8/15
N2 - A random sample of 467 persons over age 65 years from the population of an urban US community, stratified by age, sex, and performance on a brief memory test, underwent clinical evaluation for dementing illness in 1982-1984. Of these persons, 134 had probable Alzheimer's disease, 166 had possible Alzheimer's disease, and 167 had no evidence of Alzheimer's disease. Over a median follow-up period of 4.9 years following evaluation, 165 (35%) died. Overall, persons with probable Alzheimer's disease had a relative risk of death 1.44 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-1.96) times that of the unaffected. Level of cognitive impairment and the presence of cachexia upon physical examination both strongly and independently modified risk of death. Among those with probable Alzheimer's disease, mortality for those with mild or moderate cognitive impairment and no evidence of cachexia was comparable to that of the unaffected. However, among those with probable Alzheimer's disease and either severe cognitive impairmen or cachexia, the risk of death was substantially higher. Persons with probable Alzheimer's disease who had both severe cognitive impairment and clear cachexia had a risk of death 4.60 (95% CI 1.63-13.1) times that of unaffected persons.
AB - A random sample of 467 persons over age 65 years from the population of an urban US community, stratified by age, sex, and performance on a brief memory test, underwent clinical evaluation for dementing illness in 1982-1984. Of these persons, 134 had probable Alzheimer's disease, 166 had possible Alzheimer's disease, and 167 had no evidence of Alzheimer's disease. Over a median follow-up period of 4.9 years following evaluation, 165 (35%) died. Overall, persons with probable Alzheimer's disease had a relative risk of death 1.44 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-1.96) times that of the unaffected. Level of cognitive impairment and the presence of cachexia upon physical examination both strongly and independently modified risk of death. Among those with probable Alzheimer's disease, mortality for those with mild or moderate cognitive impairment and no evidence of cachexia was comparable to that of the unaffected. However, among those with probable Alzheimer's disease and either severe cognitive impairmen or cachexia, the risk of death was substantially higher. Persons with probable Alzheimer's disease who had both severe cognitive impairment and clear cachexia had a risk of death 4.60 (95% CI 1.63-13.1) times that of unaffected persons.
KW - Alzheimer's disease
KW - Longitudinal studies
KW - Mortality
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U2 - 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a116102
DO - 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a116102
M3 - Article
C2 - 1877601
AN - SCOPUS:0026050205
VL - 134
SP - 403
EP - 412
JO - American Journal of Epidemiology
JF - American Journal of Epidemiology
SN - 0002-9262
IS - 4
ER -