Cerebral amyloid angiopathy in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease: the CERAD experience, Part XV

Neurology. 1996 Jun;46(6):1592-6. doi: 10.1212/wnl.46.6.1592.

Abstract

We studied the frequency, severity, and clinical correlations of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) in 117 CERAD subjects with autopsy-confirmed AD. Eighty-three percent showed at least a mild degree of amyloid angiopathy. Thirty of 117 brains (25.6%) showed moderate to severe CAA affecting the cerebral vessels in one or more cortical regions. These brains also showed a significantly higher frequency of hemorrhages or ischemic lesions than those of subjects with little or no amyloid angiopathy (43.3% versus 23.0%; odds ratio = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.1 to 6.2) High CAA scores also correlated with the presence of cerebral arteriosclerosis and with older age at onset of dementia. Our findings suggest that factors contributing to non-AD-related vascular pathology (e.g., atherosclerosis) may play a role in amyloid deposition in cerebral vessels in AD.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Alzheimer Disease / complications*
  • Alzheimer Disease / epidemiology
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology
  • Arteriosclerosis / epidemiology
  • Brain / pathology*
  • Brain Ischemia / epidemiology
  • Brain Ischemia / pathology
  • Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy / epidemiology
  • Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy / etiology*
  • Cerebral Hemorrhage / epidemiology
  • Cerebral Hemorrhage / pathology
  • Comorbidity
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hypertension / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Prospective Studies
  • United States / epidemiology