It has been shown that vascular disease has a relatively large influence on Alzheimer’s dementia that occurs in people aged 65 years or older.
The results of this study were published in the latest issue of the international academic journal ‘Scientific Reports’.
The joint research team of Professor Noh Young of the Department of Neurology at Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Cho Jae-rim of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Yonsei University College of Medicine, and Professor Seong Jun-kyung of Korea University analyzed the relative importance of various risk factors that affect cognitive decline and cerebral atrophy in patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. did it
Depending on the age of onset, it is classified into early-onset (early-onset) Alzheimer’s disease if it occurs in people under 65 years of age, and late-onset (geriatric) Alzheimer’s disease if it occurs in people over 65 years of age.
As a result of the study, the risk factor characteristics of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease were different. In patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease that develops before the age of 65, accumulation of an Alzheimer’s disease pathological substance called ‘tau protein’ in the brain was found to largely contribute to cognitive decline.
On the other hand, in patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease that develops after the age of 65, not only toxic substances such as tau protein and amyloid protein, but also cerebral small vessel diseases such as microhemorrhage and lacunar infarction △hypertension △diabetes △coronary artery disease △hyperlipidemia △past history of stroke It was confirmed that the relative importance of vascular risk factors such as
This difference was similarly observed in the analysis of cerebral cortex thickness measured using brain magnetic resonance imaging. In patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, tau accumulation was found to be the factor that had the greatest influence on cerebral cortex thickness.
Lacunar infarcts and microhemorrhages were found to be the most important risk factors for cerebral cortical atrophy in patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. However, the relative importance of tau accumulation was confirmed to be low.
Professor Noh said, “This study shows that in patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for more than 90% of Alzheimer’s disease, not only the pathological substances of Alzheimer’s disease but also vascular risk factors and atrophy of the brain cortex, which indicates cognitive functions such as memory and degeneration of nerve cells, are observed. “We confirmed that the condition of small blood vessel disease in the brain has a uniform influence,” he said. “Management of vascular risk factors appears to be more important to prevent dementia.”
Meanwhile, the number of patients with ‘early-onset dementia’, which occurs before the elderly, was found to have increased 3.6 times over the past 10 years.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s National Institute of Health, the number of patients with early-onset dementia increased from 17,772 in 2009 to 63,231 in 2019, an increase of approximately 3.6 times over the past 10 years.
Kim Ye-seul, Donga.com reporter [email protected]
-
- great
- 0dog
-
- I’m sad
- 0dog
-
- I’m angry
- 0dog
-
- I recommend it
- dog