Stiff Aorta Predicts Dementia

  From the Cardiovascular Health Study, researchers found that individuals with high carotid-femoral pulse wave velocities (consistent with increased aortic stiffness) were 60% more likely to develop dementia during the following 15 years.
J Alzheimers Dis. 2018;66(1):297-306

Want a Large Family ? There May be an Increased Risk of Alzheimer's in Women

  According to researchers in South Korea, women who have given birth to more than five children have a much higher risk of having Alzheimer's disease compared to those with fewer children or no children.
  Women who had five or more complete pregnancies demonstrated a 1.7-fold greater risk of AD than those that completed one to four completed pregnancies or no completed pregnancies.
  High levels of estrogen during pregnancy and the abrupt withdrawal of estrogen after childbirth may be harmful to neurons and decrease cognitive reserve.
  Based on this result, researchers are planning to develop pulse hormone replacement therapy that can induce similar hormonal changes to those in the first trimester of pregnancy to evaluate it's effectiveness in reducing the risk of Alzheimer's in women.
  This reviewer does not advocate having fewer or no children as a consequence of this study.
Neurology 2018 Epub July 18

Midlife Risk Factors for Alzheimer's Revisited

  A recent review indicates that lifestyle and demographic factors in midlife could potentially modify the risk of dementia in late adulthood.
  As expected, advancing age was strongly associated with dementia. But the study also identified widowed status, lower BMI, and less sleep at midlife as risk factors for dementia.
J Alzheimers Dis. 2018;63(3):1119-1127

APOE4 Re-visited : Greater Role in Women than Men

  Researchers studying biomarkers in the spinal fluid of 1,798 patients found a statistically significant interaction between APOE-e4 and sex on CSF total tau and phosphorylated tau.
  Meaning there is a stronger association between APOE-e4 and spinal fluid tau levels among women than among men.
  Alzheimer's disease is associated with increased total tau and phosphorylated tau in spinal fluid.
  Therefore, having one copy of the genetic mutation APOE-e4 is associated with 3 times the risk of developing Alzheimer's in women compared to the general population whereas one copy in men have a risk similar to the general population. Two copies of APOE-e4 is associated with 15 times the risk of developing AD.
JAMA Neurol. 2018 May 7