CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE DEMENTIAS FROM AN EPIDEMIOLOGIC VIEWPOINT

Studies which examine patients with and without dementia during life a nd then examine brain tissue after death are extremely difficult to co nduct. There are now several such studies published, representing a ma jor contribution to the understanding of the pathologies of the dement ias. These studies were not designed to represent population samples a nd, from an epidemiological viewpoint, they are flawed because none ar e population-based and none represent the full range of function obser ved during life. It is therefore important to examine the available st udies for their contributions and biases.