Coagulation and fibrinolysis markers and risk of dementia - The Dutch vascular factors in dementia study

We performed a cross-sectional case-control study among 277 subjects with d ementia and 298 control subjects drawn from participants of the Rotterdam S tudy, a population-based cohort study among subjects aged 55 years or over, and from participants of the Rotterdam Stroke Databank, a hospital-based s troke registry, with the objective to evaluate the association of indicator s of coagulability, fibrinogen, prothrombin fragments 1+2, thrombin-antithr ombin complex (TAI), a nd indicators of fibrinolysis, plasmin-inhibitor com plex, D-dimer and tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) with dementia. I ncreased levels of TAT, D-dimer and t-PA activity were associated with an i ncreased risk of dementia. Additional stratified analyses indicated that an increased TAI level was the primary factor related to dementia. The presen t study provides evidence that predominantly increased thrombin generation is associated with dementia.