Affiliations: [a] Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands | [b] Dichterbij, Centre for the Intellectually Disabled, Gennep, The Netherlands | [c] Department of General Practice, Intellectual Disability Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands | [d] s'-Heeren Loo-Midden Nederland, Centre for the Intellectually Disabled, Ermelo, The Netherlands | [e] Department of Neurology, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Dr. AMW Coppus, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, P.O Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Tel.: +311 07043394; Fax: +311 07044657; E-mail: a.coppus@erasmusmc.nl.
Abstract: In a prospective longitudinal cohort study of dementia and mortality in persons with Down syndrome aged 45 years and older, 85 postmenopausal women were followed for a mean follow-up time of 4.3 years (range 0.0 to 7.4 years). The effect of age at menopause on age at diagnosis of dementia and survival was estimated using correlation analysis and Cox Proportional Hazard Model. We found a significant correlation between age at menopause and age at diagnosis of dementia (ρ = 0.52; p < 0.001), and between age at menopause and age at death (ρ = 0.49; p = 0.01). Early age at menopause is associated with a 1.8 fold increased risk of dementia: Hazard Ratio (HR): 1.82 (95%Confidence Interval (CI): 1.31–2.52) and with risk of death: HR: 2.05 (95%CI: 1.33–3.16). Our study suggests that age at menopause in women with Down syndrome is a determinant of age at onset of dementia and mortality.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, APOE genotype, Down syndrome, menopause, mortality
