Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015;45(3):865-71.
doi: 10.3233/JAD-142871.

Estimating the risk for conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease in an elderly Arab community

Rivka Inzelberg  1 , Magda Massarwa  2 , Edna Schechtman  3 , Rosa Strugatsky  4 , Lindsay A Farrer  5 , Robert P Friedland  6
Affiliations

Estimating the risk for conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease in an elderly Arab community

Rivka Inzelberg et al. J Alzheimers Dis. 2015.

Abstract

Background: Vascular risk factors and lack of formal education may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Objective: To determine the contribution of vascular risk factors and education to the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD and to estimate the risk for conversion from MCI to AD.

Methods: This door-to-door survey was performed by an Arab-speaking team in Wadi Ara villages in Israel. All consenting residents aged ≥ 65 years were interviewed for medical history and underwent neurological and cognitive examinations. Individuals were cognitively classified as normal (CN), MCI, AD, vascular dementia, or unclassifiable. MCI patients were re-examined at least one year later to determine conversion to AD. The contributions of age, gender, school years, and vascular risk factors to the probability of conversion were estimated using logistic regression models.

Results: Of the 906 participants, 297 (33%) had MCI and 95 (10%) had AD. Older age (p = 0.0008), female gender (p = 0.023), low schooling (p < 0.0001), and hypertension (p = 0.0002) significantly accounted for risk of MCI versus CN, and diabetes was borderline (p = 0.051). The risk of AD versus CN was significantly associated with age (p < 0.0001), female gender (p < 0.0001), low schooling (p = 0.004) and hypertension (p = 0.049). Of the 231 subjects with MCI that were re-examined, 65 converted to AD.

Conclusions: In this population, age, female gender, lack of formal education, and hypertension are risk factors for both AD and MCI. Conversion risk from MCI to AD could be estimated as a function of age, time interval between examinations, and hypertension.

Keywords: Aging; Alzheimer's disease; Arab; mild cognitive impairment; neuroepidemiology; prevalence; risk factors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1 –
Figure 1 –. Study population and design
AD=Alzheimer’s disease, MCI=Mild Cognitive Impairment, VD=Vascular Dementia, prev=Prevalence
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Israeli-Korn SD, Masarwa M, Schechtman E, Abuful A, Strugatsky R, Avni S, Farrer LA, Friedland RP, Inzelberg R (2010) Hypertension increases the probability of Alzheimer’s disease and of mild cognitive impairment in an Arab community in northern Israel. Neuroepidemiology 34, 99–105. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Luchsinger JA, Reitz C, Honig LS, Tang MX, Shea S, Mayeux R (2005) Aggregation of vascular risk factors and risk of incident Alzheimer disease. Neurology 65, 545–551. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Afgin AE, Massarwa M, Schechtman E, Israeli-Korn SD, Strugatsky R, Abuful A, Farrer LA, Friedland RP, Inzelberg R (2012) High prevalence of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease in arabic villages in northern Israel: impact of gender and education. J Alzheimers Dis 29, 431–439. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bowirrat A, Treves TA, Friedland RP, Korczyn AD (2001) Prevalence of Alzheimer’s type dementia in an elderly Arab population. Eur J Neurol 8, 119–123. - PubMed
    1. Inzelberg R, Schechtman E, Abuful A, Masarwa M, Mazarib A, Strugatsky R, Farrer LA, Green RC, Friedland RP (2007) Education effects on cognitive function in a healthy aged Arab population. Int Psychogeriatr 19, 593–603. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms