Plasma parathyroid hormone is associated with vascular dementia and cerebral hyperintensities in two community-based cohorts.

CONTEXT

In diseases with increased PTH such as hyperparathyroidism and chronic renal failure, dementia is common. Little is known of PTH and dementia in the community.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to investigate relations between PTH, clinical dementia and cerebral micro-vascular disease.

SETTING AND DESIGN

The Uppsala Longitudinal Study Of Adult Men (ULSAM) was prospective, baseline, 1991-1995; followup, 15.8 years. The Prospective Investigation Of The Vasculature In Uppsala Seniors (PIVUS) was cross-sectional, baseline, 2001. Both settings were community based. PARTICIPANTS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: In the ULSAM study of 998 men (age 71) the association between PTH and dementia was investigated. In the PIVUS study of 406 men and women (age 70) the relation between PTH and magnetic resonance imaging signs of cerebral small vascular disease was investigated.

RESULTS

During followup, 56 individuals were diagnosed with vascular, 91 with Alzheimer's, and 59 with other dementias. In Cox-regression analyses, higher PTH was associated with vascular dementia (hazard ratio per 1 SD increase of PTH, 1.41; P < .01), but not with other dementias. The top tertile of PTH accounted for 18.5% of the population-attributable risk for vascular dementia, exceeding all other risk factors. In linear regression analysis in PIVUS, PTH was associated with increasing white matter hyperintensities (WMHI), reflecting increasing burden of cerebral small vessel disease (1 SD PTH increase, 0.31 higher category of WMHI; P = .016). All models were adjusted for vascular risk factors and mineral metabolism.

CONCLUSIONS

In two community-based samples, PTH predicted clinically diagnosed vascular dementia as well as neuroimaging indices of cerebral small vessel disease. Our data suggest a role for PTH in the development of vascular dementia.