Vascular risk factors and Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Recent epidemiological study and clinico-pathologic data suggest overlaps between Alzheimer disease and cerebrovascular lesions that may magnify the effect of mild Alzheimer disease pathology and promote progression of cognitive decline. There is now strong epidemiologic evidence supporting an association between Alzheimer disease and two major vascular risk factors--blood pressure and diabetes. The major objective of this study is to analyse the impact of vascular risk factors on natural history of Alzheimer's disease. Descriptive analyse of the vascular risk factors on 520 Alzheimer's disease patients issue from the population of the "Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique: "Réseau sur la maladie d'Alzheimer français". The description of the vascular risk factors in the Alzheimer's disease patients from the "Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique. "Réseau sur la maladie d'Alzheimer Français" was made and the projects and perspectives of analyses based on the longitudinal data were discussed. 45% of subjects have high blood pressure, they were significantly older (p < 0.05), have more frequent impairment of ADLs (p < 0.05), and one-leg balance impairment (p < 0.05). 10% of patients have diabetes and 23.95% hypercholesterolemia. The first data on vascular risk factors of the "Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique: "Réseau sur la maladie d'Alzheimer français"" are the first step on comprehension of the impact of vascular risk factors and their traitments on Alzheimer's disease.