TY - JOUR PY - 1997// TI - Head injury and the risk of Alzheimer's disease: a case control study JO - International journal of geriatric psychiatry A1 - Salib, Emad A1 - Hillier, V. SP - 363 EP - 368 VL - 12 IS - 3 N2 - OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to examine the association between Alzheimer's disease and head injury in elderly patients referred to an EMI unit. METHOD: An unmatched case control study comparing 198 cases of Alzheimer's disease (NINCDS-ADRDA diagnostic criteria) to selected controls (164 other dementias and 176 non-dementing group) with respect to history of head trauma, with or without loss of consciousness, prior to the onset of dementia. SETTING: EMI unit in Warrington serving an elderly population of 28,000. The subjects included all patients referred to and seen by the first author during a 2-year study period 1991-1993. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Relative risk (odds ratio) of Alzheimer's disease. RESULTS: For having history of head injury, the odds ratio was 1.52 (0.98-2.35), significant only in male patients (OR 2.1 p < 0.05). For dementias other than Alzheimer's disease the odds ratio of head injury was 2.36 and 2.46 for all dementias combined (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The study confirms a positive association between reported head injury and Alzheimer's disease as well as non-Alzheimer type dementia. Head trauma did not appear to be a specific risk for Alzheimer's disease as previously claimed. The association was modified by sex being only significant in male patients.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0885-6230 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -