RISK-FACTORS AND ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF 2 COMMUNITIES

Objective: To determine the association between demographic, lifestyle and medical history factors to Alzheimer's disease (AD), we studied s amples of two community dwelling populations with significantly differ ent prevalence rates of AD in Indianapolis, USA(6.24%) and Ibadan, Nig eria (1.4%). Methods: The samples were drawn from African-American com munity dwelling residents 65 years of age and over in Indianapolis, an d Yoruba community-dwelling residents 65 years of age and over in Ibad an. A two-stage epidemiological design was used in which diagnosis of AD was by National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorde rs and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Associ ation criteria. Results: In Indianapolis, age (odds ratio [OR]=1.16; 9 5% confidence interval [CI] = 1.11-1.21), family history of dementia ( OR = 5.40; 95% CI = 1.99-14.62), low education (0-6 years, OR=3.49; 95 % CI=1.06-11.48) and rural residence (OR = 2.49; 95% CI = 1.05-5.88) w ere associated with a higher risk of AD. In Ibadan, age (OR = 1.15; 95 % GI = 1.12-1.18) and female gender (OR = 13.9; 95% CI = 3.85-50.28) w ere associated with a higher risk of AD. Conclusions: The remarkably s imilar odds ratios between age and AD between sites suggest that biolo gical processes associated with ageing are essential elements in the d evelopment of AD but that genetic and environmental risk factors may a lter age-specific rates. In our longitudinal study, we intend to inves tigate in more depth the interaction between these ageing, genetic and environmental factors.