Fritsch Thomas, Smyth Kathleen A, Debanne Sara M, Petot Grace J, Friedland Robert P
University Memory and Aging Center, Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals of Cleveland, Ohio 44120, USA.
J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2005 Sep;18(3):134-41. doi: 10.1177/0891988705277537.
The objective was to study the associations between participation in different types of mentally stimulating leisure activities and status as Alzheimer's disease (AD) case or normal control. Research suggests that participation in leisure activities, especially mentally stimulating activities, is associated with a lower risk for AD. However, no study has yet evaluated associations between AD and different types of mental leisure activities, especially those involving "novelty seeking." The authors used a case-control design to compare participation in activities across the life span in persons with AD and normal controls. Cases (n = 264) were recruited from clinical settings and from the community. Controls were drawn from 2 populations. Control group A members (n = 364) were the friends or neighbors of the cases or members of the same organizations to which the cases belonged. Control group B members (n = 181) were randomly drawn from the community. The 2 control groups did not differ in their responses to most activity questions, so they were combined. Factor analysis of activity questions identified 3 activity factors: (1) novelty seeking; (2) exchange of ideas; and (3) social. Logistic regression analysis indicated that, adjusting for control variables, greater participation in novelty-seeking and exchange-of-ideas activities was significantly associated with decreased odds of AD. The odds of AD were lower among those who more often participated in activities involving exchange of ideas and were lower yet for those who more frequently participated in novelty-seeking activities. We conclude that participation in a variety of mental activities across the life span may lower one's chances of developing AD.
目的是研究参与不同类型的智力刺激休闲活动与阿尔茨海默病（AD）病例或正常对照状态之间的关联。研究表明，参与休闲活动，尤其是智力刺激活动，与较低的AD风险相关。然而，尚无研究评估AD与不同类型的智力休闲活动之间的关联，特别是那些涉及“寻求新奇”的活动。作者采用病例对照设计，比较AD患者和正常对照在整个生命周期中参与活动的情况。病例（n = 264）从临床环境和社区招募。对照来自2个群体。A对照组成员（n = 364）是病例的朋友或邻居，或病例所属同一组织的成员。B对照组成员（n = 181）从社区中随机抽取。两个对照组对大多数活动问题的回答没有差异，因此将它们合并。对活动问题进行因子分析，确定了3个活动因子：（1）寻求新奇；（2）思想交流；（3）社交。逻辑回归分析表明，在调整控制变量后，更多地参与寻求新奇和思想交流活动与AD几率降低显著相关。经常参与涉及思想交流活动的人患AD的几率较低，而更频繁参与寻求新奇活动的人患AD的几率更低。我们得出结论，在整个生命周期中参与各种智力活动可能会降低患AD的几率。
