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Last Updated: Apr 20, 2011 - 9:38:09 AM |
WEDNESDAY April 16, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Alzheimer's disease is found in more people with high cholesterol in their early 40s than those with low cholesterol, according to a study represented today at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 12–19, 2008.
"Our findings show it would be best for both physicians and patients to attack high cholesterol levels in their 40s to reduce the risk of dementia," said study author Alina Solomon, MD, with the University of Kuopio in Finland.
For the study, Solomon and Rachel Whitmer, PhD, senior author of the study from Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California followed 9,752 men and women aged 40 to 45 in northern California from 1964 through 1973.
From 1994 to 2007, researchers identified 504 cases of Alzheimer's disease and 162 cases of vascular dementia.
People with total cholesterol levels between 249 and 500 milligrams were one-and-a-half times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those people with less than 198 milligrams of cholesterol, the researchers found.
The risk of Alzheimer's disease was more than one-and-a-quarter times higher for those with total cholesterol levels of 221 to 248 milligrams.
"High mid-life cholesterol increased the risk of Alzheimer's disease regardless of midlife diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking and late-life stroke," said Solomon.
But Solomon said it's difficult to draw a conclusion regarding high mid-life cholesterol and the risk of vascular dementia as there are several types of vascular dementia that may have slightly different risk factors.
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