thesis
Inflammation, nutrition and risk of dementia : the Rotterdam Study
- Publication date
- 16 October 2002
- Publisher
- The aim of the research described in this thesis was to further
investigate the relation between inflammatory factors, antioxidants
and lipids, and dementia and to examine whether these associations
could be explained by atherosclerosis.
All studies in this thesis were based on the Rotterdam Study, an ongoing
prospective population-based study among 7983 subjects of 55 years and
over, who were living in Ommoord, a suburb in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
At baseline (1990-1993), 7525 participants of the Rotterdam Study
underwent extensive screening for dementia, of whom 482 were diagnosed
as having dementia. Of these, 353 (73%) suffered from Alzheimer's disease
and 72 from vascular dementia (15%). The 7043 subjects who were
dementia-free at baseline were followed up for 5. 7 yea:rs on average. During
this period, 395 participants developed dementia, of whom 293 (7 4%) had
Alzheimer's disease and 57 (14%) vascular dementia.
In this general discussion, I will give an overview of the main findings in
this thesis in the light of current knowledge regarding dementia
pathogenesis. In addition, some methodological issues will be discussed as
well as the clinical relevance of our findings. Finally, I will give some
recommendations for future research.