Abstract
Alzheimer;s disease (AD) is a multifactorial disease but its aetiology and pathophisiology are still not fully understood. Epidemiologic studies examining the association between lipids and dementia have reported conflicting results. High total cholesterol has been associated with both an increased, and decreased, risk of AD and/or vascular dementia (VAD), whereas other studies found no association. The aim of this study was to investigate the serum lipids concentration in patients with probable AD, as well as possible correlation between serum lipids concentrations and cognitive impairment. Our cross-sectional study included 30 patients with probable AD and 30 age and sex matched control subjects. The probable AD was clinically diagnosed by NINCDS-ADRDA criteria. Serum total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglyceride (TG) levels were determined at the initial assessment using standard enzymatic colorimetric techniques. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C) levels were calculated. Subjects with probable AD had significantly lower serum TG (p<0,01), TC (p<0,05), LDL-C (p<0,05) and VLDL-C (p<0,01) compared to the control group. We did not observe significant difference in HDL-C level between patients with probable AD and control subjects. Negative, although not significant correlation between TG, TC and VLDL-C and MMSE in patients with AD was observed. In the control group of subjects there was a negative correlation between TC and MMSE but it was not statistically significant (r = -0,28). Further studies are required to explore the possibility for serum lipids to serve as diagnostic and therapeutic markers of AD.
Highlights
Dementia is a clinicopathological state whose name literally means “loss of the ability to think.” Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VAD) are the most common forms of dementias
No difference emerged in age, systolic, diastolic blood pressure and BMI between Alzheimers disease (AD) and control group
In our cross-sectional study we found significantly lower serum lipids except of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in patients with probable AD compared to control subjects
Summary
Dementia is a clinicopathological state whose name literally means “loss of the ability to think.” Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VAD) are the most common forms of dementias. High total cholesterol (TC) level has been associated with both an increased and decreased risk of AD and/or VAD, whereas other studies found no association ( ). High levels of cholesterol at midlife represented a risk factor for AD, there was no detectable difference in cholesterol levels in late life ( ). In a previous report from the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, low midlife TC level was associated with a lower number of neuritic, amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (the characteristic pathologic changes of AD), while late-life TC and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels were not associated with any of the AD neuropathologic markers ( ). In cross-sectional studies, lower HDL-C levels have been associated with lower Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores ( ) and with higher risks for dementia ( , , ) and AD ( ). The aim of the study The aim of this study was to investigate serum lipids concentration in patients with probable AD, as well as possible correlation between serum lipids concentration and cognitive impairment tested by MMSE in patients with probable AD
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