Title:Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s Disease: An Epidemiological Study
Volume: 18
Issue: 5
Author(s): Jana Janoutová*, Martina Kovalová, Ondřej Machaczka, Petr Ambroz, Anna Zatloukalová, Kateřina Němček and Vladimír Janout
Affiliation:
- Department Of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ostrava, Ostrava,Czech Republic
Keywords:
Dementia, Alzheimer's disease, epidemiology, risk factors, neurodegenerative diseases.
Abstract:
Introduction: Dementia becomes a major public health challenge in both the Czech Republic
and worldwide. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
Objective: We conducted two successive epidemiological projects in 2012-2015 and 2016-2019. Their
aim was to study the effect of selected potential genetic, vascular and psychosocial risk factors on the
development of AD by comparing their frequencies in AD patients and controls.
Methods: Epidemiological case-control studies were conducted. In total, data from 2106 participants
(1096 cases, 1010 controls) were analyzed.
Results: Three times more females than males suffered from AD. The highest proportion of cases were
those with primary education, unlike controls. There were statistically significantly more manual
workers among cases than among controls. Of selected vascular risk factors, coronary heart disease
was found to be statistically significantly more frequent in cases than in controls. The onset of hypertension
and diabetes mellitus was earlier in controls than in cases. As for hobbies and interests, there
were statistically significant differences in physical activity, reading and solving crosswords between
the groups, with these activities being more common in controls.
Conclusion: The prevalence of chronic neurodegenerative diseases, in particular AD, is currently increasing.
Given the aging of the population, these conditions may be expected to rise in prevalence.
Potential risk of AD needs to be studied, analyzed and confirmed; a detailed knowledge of the risks of
AD and early detection of the pathology may therefore be very beneficial for prevention and early
treatment of this condition.