TY - JOUR PY - 1995// TI - Risk of dementia in patients with Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and severe head trauma: a register-based follow-up study JO - American journal of epidemiology A1 - Breteler, M. M. A1 - de Groot, R. R. A1 - van Romunde, L. K. A1 - Hofman, Albert SP - 1300 EP - 1305 VL - 142 IS - 12 N2 - The authors investigated the risk of developing dementia for persons aged 50-75 years who suffered from Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, or severe head trauma. They compared the risk in this patient group with the risk in a reference group in a follow-up study based on the linked databases of three Dutch nationwide morbidity registers over the years 1980-1989. The overall relative risk of developing dementia within 8 years in patients with Parkinson's disease who were initially free of dementia was 3.0 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.9-3.1). Risk was especially increased in younger Parkinson's disease patients (relative risk (RR) = 13.2, 95% CI 6.2-28.6). For patients with epilepsy, the overall relative risk was 1.5 (95% CI 1.4-1.7). Severe head trauma was not associated with an increased risk of dementia (RR = 1.0, 95% CI 0.9-1.1). These findings suggest that Parkinson's disease is an important risk factor for dementia, with a particularly high risk in young patients with Parkinson's disease. Patients with epilepsy may bear a moderately increased risk of developing dementia. This study does not support earlier findings in retrospective case-control studies of an increased risk of dementia in head trauma patients.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0002-9262 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -