High homocysteine levels may double risk of dementia, Alzheimer...( according to Neil Buckholtz Ph.D. chi...),Health

according to Neil Buckholtz, Ph.D., chief of the Dementias of Aging program at the NIA. The good news is that we may have found a potential risk factor for AD that is modifiable. We dont know yet whether reducing homocysteine levels will reduce dementia risk, but this is something that can and will be tested in clinical trials. Buckholtz noted that the NIA-sponsored Alzheimers Disease Cooperative Study, a nationwide consortium of research centers, is already planning a clinical trial of folate and vitamins B6 and B12 to test whether reducing homocysteine levels with high doses of these vitamin supplements can slow the rate of cognitive decline in people diagnosed with AD. Wolf and colleagues followed 1,092 people in a dementia-free group of the Framingham cohort. Participants in this group, whose average age was 76, were enrolled in the study between 1976 and 1978. Plasma homocysteine levels were measured between 1979 and 1982 and between 1986 and 1990. Researchers also considered age, sex, vascular risk factors other than homocysteine, and plasma levels of folate and vitamins B6 and B12 of the participants. Information from the participants was also available on the late-onset AD genetic risk factor APOE-e4.

From the 1986-1990 examinations through December 2000, some 111 people developed dementia, including 83 diagnosed specifically with AD. Elevated homocysteine levels (defined as greater than 14 mmol/liter) doubled the chance that a participant would develop AD and each 5 mmol/liter elevation increased the risk of AD by 40 percent. The analysis showed further that people with consistently high levels of homocysteine throughout the period of the study were at highest risk for dementia and AD. The researchers also examined whether the earlier levels of homocysteine, measured between 1979 and 1982, had any relationship to the development of dementia or AD later on; this analysis, too, linked elevated levels at least 8 years prior to a later diagnosis of
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Contact: Vicky Cahan
cahanv@nia.nih.gov
301-496-1752
NIH/National Institute on Aging
13-Feb-2002

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