摘要:

Self-reported population ancestry data for the 19 census divisions (CDs) of Alberta, Canada, were correlated with multiple sclerosis (MS) prevalence rates in those divisions, for men and women separately; and parental ancestry was compared between a group of MS patients and controls attending the University of Alberta MS Clinic. At the CD level, there was a positive correlation between single Scandinavian ancestry and MS prevalence in men, but this was not confirmed in the case-control comparison. The case-control comparison indicated an excess risk of MS associated with single non-specific European as opposed to British ancestry in men only. When paternal versus maternal ancestry was considered separately, there was an excess risk of MS associated with non-specific European as opposed to British ancestry for both men and women, but on the father''s side only. Aboriginal ancestry was negatively associated with MS prevalence at the CD level in both men and women; and no MS patients with aboriginal origin were among cases assembled through the MS clinic.

ISSN:0251-5350    

DOI:10.1159/000109883

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

The Sardinians are an ethnically homogeneous population, having a genetic structure quite different from that of all other Italian and European populations. All epidemiological studies carried out in Sardinia since 1975 indicate that this Mediterranean island shows twice the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) compared to continental Italy, but the size of the Sardinian communities so far surveyed has been too small to draw definitive conclusions. To overcome this draw-back, we have studied the frequency of MS in a well-defined area of northwestern Sardinia, with a population of about 270,000 in the 1991 census. Based on 276 MS cases, the prevalence on December 31st, 1991, was 102.6 per 100,000. The incidence, averaging 2 per 100,000 in the period of 1962 to 1971, rose to 5 in the period from 1977 to 1991. The present study confirms the higher frequency of MS among Sardinians compared to other Italian populations. Genetic, linguistic and historical data suggest a role of environmental and genetic factors in determining the notable difference in MS risk between Sardinia and the rest of Italy.

ISSN:0251-5350    

DOI:10.1159/000109884

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Cognitive deficits are common in Parkinson’s disease (PD), but the pathophysiology and relationship to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are not understood. We used a case-control format to investigate putative risk factors for the development of dementia in patients with Parkinson’s disease. We compared 52 cognitively intact patients with PD to 43 PD patients with dementia with regard to factors previously suggested as relevant to either AD or PD. Multiple logistic regression yielded the following significant predictors of dementia in PD: lack of education (less than a high school graduate) (OR 21); severity of motor deficit (UPDRS total motor score greater than 20; OR 6.34), and PD onset at greater than 60 years of age (OR 4.12). The predictive probability of dementia in our subjects when all three variables were positive was 97.9%. We conclude that education may modify the risk of cognitive decline in PD. Protective effects of educational attainment, independent of dementia etiology, may be due to greater functional brain re

ISSN:0251-5350    

DOI:10.1159/000109885

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Parkinson''s disease, because of its progressive degenerative nature, is associated with increased disability and mortality compared with mortality in the general population. We examined mortality data from three clinical trials involving 1,330 patients with Parkinson''s disease treated with pergolide as an adjunct to levodopa or levodopa/carbidopa therapy. The ratio of observed deaths to expected deaths in the general population of the same age, gender, race distribution, and period of observation was 2.3 for the 3 studies combined. The ratio is lower than that in Parkinson''s disease patients treated prior to the introduction of levodopa, consistent with ratios with levodopa and levodopa combination therapy. The ratio is slightly higher than in Parkinson''s disease patients treated with levodopa and levodopa combination therapy, which may be attributable to differing patient characteristics in the populations studied.

ISSN:0251-5350    

DOI:10.1159/000109886

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

This study was to investigate the prevalence of dementia in an aging population. A two-phase model was used to obtain information on the socio-demographic, medical and cognitive status of subjects over 65 years of age (n = 516), resident on December 31, 1990, within the general population (n = 3,457) of La Selva del Camp. A diagnostic protocol, following the criteria of DSM-III, was designed for application to all subjects. We diagnosed 64 subjects with dementia, which represented a prevalence of 14.9% of which 3.2% was classified as severe, 4.5% as moderate and 7.3% as slight. The prevalence by age and sex showed a large increase with age and a higher prevalence in females, although the latter was not statistically significant.

ISSN:0251-5350    

DOI:10.1159/000109887

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

In an ongoing prospective community study, a random sample of rural elderly persons was screened with cognitive tests (including the CERAD neuropsychological battery) at study entry and an average of 2 years later. We examined 1,017 subjects, nondemented at study entry, at both waves, with the Mini-Mental State Exam, Story Recall, Word List Recall and Recognition, Boston Naming Test, Verbal Fluency, Praxis, Clock Drawing, and Trailmaking. Overall, the cognitive performance was stable, with either no mean change or a small mean decline over 2 years; however, standard deviations were relatively large, implying individual variation of questionable clinical significance. These data provide a set of population-based longitudinal cognitive norms and have implications for dementia screening.

ISSN:0251-5350    

DOI:10.1159/000109888

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Available summaries of radiology reports were examined among 899 primary brain cancer cases (age 40 years and older) diagnosed in Connecticut residents in selected years from 1965 to 1988 and reported to the population-based Connecticut Tumor Registry. Adjustment for the lower sensitivities of radiologic tests used before the advent of computerized tomography (CT) suggested that the introduction of CT (by itself) could account for little of the secular increase in brain cancer rates. Examination of trends in age-standardized rates for histologically confirmed brain cancers in the elderly, after excluding those diagnosed only by radiologic tests, did not support the idea that the secular trend in the elderly was largely artifactual.

ISSN:0251-5350    

DOI:10.1159/000109889

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger