American journal of epidemiology
-
A population-based case-control study of the association between head trauma and Alzheimer's disease was conducted in the Netherlands from 1980 to 1987. The study comprised 198 patients with clinically diagnosed early onset Alzheimer's disease and 198 age- and sex-matched population controls. Adjusted for sex, age, family history of dementia, and education, the odds ratio of a history of head trauma with loss of consciousness was 1.6 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8-3.4). ⋯ However, the power to show interaction may have been low in this study. The authors' findings are compatible with the view that head trauma may be implicated in Alzheimer's disease, with a short lag time between the head trauma and the first symptoms of disease. The association needs to be confirmed in a prospective follow-up study to fully exclude the possibility of recall bias.