University Hospital of the University of São Paulo, Internal Medicine Division, São Paulo, Brazil.
Int Psychogeriatr. 2012 Jan;24(1):74-81. doi: 10.1017/S1041610211001724. Epub 2011 Sep 9.
Anemia and dementia are common diseases among the elderly, but conflicting data are available regarding an association between these two conditions. We analyzed data from the São Paulo Ageing & Health Study to address the relationship between anemia and dementia.
This cross-sectional observational study included participants aged 65 years and older from a deprived area of the borough of Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil. Data about demographics, education, income, and cognitive and daily life function were collected, as well as blood samples. Anemia and dementia were defined according to WHO and DSM-IV criteria, respectively.
Of the 2267 subjects meeting the inclusion criteria, 2072 agreed to participate in the study; of whom 1948 had a valid total blood count and were included in the analysis. Anemia was diagnosed in 203 (10.2%) participants and dementia in 99 (5.1%). The frequency of anemia was higher in patients with dementia according to univariate analysis (odds ratio (OR) = 2.00, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.17-3.41, p = 0.01), but this association was not present after adjusting for age (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 0.76-2.33, p = 0.32). Further multivariate adjustment did not change the results.
Although anemia and dementia are frequent disorders in older people, we found their relationship to be mediated exclusively by aging in this low-income population from São Paulo.
贫血和痴呆是老年人中常见的疾病，但这两种疾病之间的关联存在相互矛盾的数据。我们分析了圣保罗老龄化和健康研究的数据，以解决贫血和痴呆之间的关系。
这项横断面观察性研究包括来自巴西圣保罗市布坦坦区贫困地区的 65 岁及以上的参与者。收集了人口统计学、教育、收入以及认知和日常生活功能的数据，并采集了血液样本。贫血和痴呆分别按照世界卫生组织和 DSM-IV 标准定义。
在符合纳入标准的 2267 名受试者中，有 2072 名同意参加研究；其中 1948 名有有效的全血细胞计数，并纳入分析。203 名（10.2%）参与者被诊断为贫血，99 名（5.1%）参与者患有痴呆。根据单因素分析，痴呆患者贫血的发生率更高（优势比（OR）=2.00，95%置信区间（CI）=1.17-3.41，p=0.01），但在调整年龄后，这种关联并不存在（OR=1.33，95%CI=0.76-2.33，p=0.32）。进一步的多变量调整并未改变结果。
尽管贫血和痴呆在老年人中很常见，但我们发现，在这个来自圣保罗的低收入人群中，它们的关系完全由衰老介导。
