The research, reported in the September 27, 2005, issue of Neurology, was conducted by Aron S. Buchman, M.D., David A. Bennett, M.D., and colleagues at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL, as part of the Religious Orders Study. The Religious Orders Study is a comprehensive, long-term look at aging and AD among Catholic nuns, priests, and brothers nationwide that has been funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, since 1993. Rush University Medical Center is one of more than 30 Alzheimer's Disease Centers supported by the NIA.
"People with Alzheimer's disease are known to lose weight and body mass after they have the disease," says Dallas W. Anderson, Ph.D., program director for population studies in the Dementias of Aging Branch of NIA's Neuroscience and Neuropsychology of Aging Program. "This study is significant in that it looks at body mass changes in the years preceding dementia and cognitive decline. Other studies have looked at BMI at only one point in time or studied body mass loss in people who already have AD."
Each of the 820 study participants took part in yearly clinical evaluations that included a medical history, neurologic examination, and extensive cognitive function testing. The participants' weights and heights were also measured to determine their BMI, a widely used measure of body composition that is calculated by dividing weight
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Contact: Vicky Cahan
cahanv@nia.nih.gov
301-496-1752
NIH/National Institute on Aging
26-Sep-2005