Neuroepidemiology

Introduction Researchers apply varying definitions when measuring stroke incidence using administrative data. We aimed to investigate the sensitivity of incidence estimates to varying definitions of stroke and lookback periods, and to provide updated incidence rates and trends for Western Australia (WA). Methods We used linked state-wide hospital and death data from 1985-2017 to identify incident strokes from 2005-2017. A standard definition was applied which included strokes coded as the principal hospital diagnosis or the underlying cause of death, with a 10-year lookback used to clear prevalent cases...

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common neurologic autoimmune disorder. We have used a newly introduced measure, Quality of Care Index (QCI), which is associated with the efficacy of care given to patients suffering from MS. OBJECTIVE: To report and compare the quality of care given to MS patients in different regions and country. METHOD: Primary measures were retrieved from Global Burden of Disease (GBD) from 1990 to 2019. Secondary measures (mortality to incidence ratio, DALY to prevalence ratio, prevalence to incidence ratio, and YLL to YLD ratio) were combined using Principle Component Analysis (PCA), to form an essential component (QCI) (0-100 index with higher values representing better condition)...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Increased mortality in epilepsy due to infections (other than pneumonia) has been demonstrated. Small case series of people on antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have described hypogammaglobulinaemia, which may predispose to infections. It is unclear whether hypogammaglobulinaemia is more frequent in people on AEDs, what AEDs it is associated with, or what clinical impact it has. In this population-based study, we aimed to determine whether AEDs were associated with hypogammaglobulinaemia, which AEDs were associated, and whether the associations may be causal...

INTRODUCTION: Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a significant burden of morbidity and mortality among elderly people around the world. Epidemiological data with complete CSVD evaluations and a large sample size in the general population are still limited. METHODS: Community-dwelling residents in Lishui city in China from the cross-sectional survey of the PRECISE study (Polyvascular Evaluation for Cognitive Impairment and Vascular Events) were included in this study from 2017 to 2019...

INTRODUCTION: Time spent on screen-based sedentary activities is significantly associated with dementia risk, however, whether the associations vary by family history (FHx) of dementia is currently unknown. We aimed to examine independent associations of two prevalent types of screen-based sedentary activities (television [TV] viewing and computer use) with dementia and assess the modifying effect of FHx. METHODS: We included 415,048 individuals free of dementia from the UK Biobank...

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer's disease (AD) often presents with sleep disorders, which are also an important risk factor for AD, affecting cognitive function to a certain extent. This study aimed to reveal the current global status, present hotspots, and discuss emerging trends of sleep and AD using a bibliometric approach. METHODS: Research and review articles related to sleep and AD from 2003 to 2022 were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection. VOSviewer 1...

Background and Objectives Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an independent risk factor for stroke. Furthermore, intracranial arterial calcification (IAC) has been validated as a marker for subclinical cerebrovascular disease. However, the relationship between OSA with IAC was less studied compared with its established association with coronary artery calcification (CAC). In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between the severity of OSA and the degree of IAC in hospitalized patients without pre-existing cardiovascular disease...

INTRODUCTION: Whereas ischemic stroke incidence has decreased in Sweden over the past decade, trends in spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) incidence are less well delineated. In this time period, there has been a dramatic increase in use of oral anticoagulants (OAC). The aim of our study was to investigate incidence trends in spontaneous first-ever ICH in Sweden between 2010 and 2019 with focus on non-OAC-associated and OAC-associated ICH. METHODS: We included patients (≥18 years) with first-ever ICH registered in the hospital-based Swedish Stroke Register (Riksstroke) 2010 to 2019...

INTRODUCTION: Essential Tremor (ET) is one of the most common movement disorders. Oral drugs play a crucial role in treating ET, with various available options such as propranolol, primidone and topiramate. However, the medication status and related factors among Chinese ET patients are unknown yet. METHODS: This study used the baseline data from the National Survey of Essential Tremor Plus in China cohort. ET patients with information related to medication intake were included...

BACKGROUND: At present, the effect of aspirin in preventing dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is controversial. Clarifying their association is of interest for subsequent relevant clinical trials. METHODS: Four databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of science, and the Cochrane library) were searched from inception to May 12, 2023 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that explored the effects between aspirin and dementia or MCI. Two reviewers independently extracted and analyzed data using Stata software...

INTRODUCTION: Understanding the influence of preexisting cognitive impairment on poststroke outcome is a critical challenge in a context of current aging and growing population. This study aimed to assess long-term survival of patients with acute ischemic stroke (IS) according to their premorbid cognitive status, and to identify contributing factors of death. METHODS: Patients with IS were prospectively identified among residents of Dijon, France using a population-based registry (2013-2017)...

Introduction Health administrative databases are widely used for the estimation of the prevalence of Parkinson's Disease (PD). Few in general, and none used in Italy, have been validated by testing their diagnostic accuracy. The primary objective was to validate two algorithms for the identification of persons with PD using clinical diagnosis as the reference standard on an Italian sample of people with PD. The second objective was to estimate 10-year trends in PD prevalence in the Bologna Local Health Trust from 2010 to 2019...

INTRODUCTION: Treatment of stroke is time-dependent and it challenges patients' social and demographic context for timely consultation and effective access to reperfusion therapies. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to relate indicators of social position to cardiovascular risk factors, time of arrival, access to reperfusion therapy, and mortality in the setting of acute stroke. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of patients with a diagnosis of ischaemic stroke in a referral hospital in Bogotá was performed...

INTRODUCTION: The incidence of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) worldwide is approximately 1-2.6/1,000,000 and prevalence 5-6/100,000. ALS has been suggested to be relatively common in Finland but epidemiological information on the subject is scarce and outdated. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients with ALS diagnostic codes were identified from mandatory administrative registries in the provinces of Southwestern Finland (population circa 430,000) and North Karelia (population circa 170,000) together comprising 11...

INTRODUCTION: The association disclosed between COVID-19 infection and ischemic stroke (IS) raises concern. The exact risk periods, which were not consistent between studies, require further investigation. METHODS: We linked between two national databases: the COVID-19 database and the Israeli National Stroke Registry. The self-controlled case series method was used to estimate the association between COVID-19 infection and a first IS. The study population included all Israeli residents who had both a first IS event and a first COVID-19 diagnosis during 2020...

Background Meningitis is a severe and fatal neurological disease and causes lots of disease burden. The purpose of this study was to assess the global, regional, and national burdens and trends of meningitis by age, sex, and aetiology. Methods Data on the burden of meningitis were collected from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019. R and Joinpoint were used for statistical analysis and charting. Results In 2019, meningitis caused 236,222 deaths and 15,649,865 years of life lost (YLL) worldwide...

Letter to the Editor.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of risk factors for cerebrovascular diseases in Mexico is increasing although stroke mortality declined from 1990 to 2010, without meaningful changes afterwards. While improving access to adequate prevention and care could explain this trend, miscoding and misclassification in death certificates need to be assessed to unveil the true burden of stroke in Mexico. Practices in death certification along with the presence of multi-morbidity could contribute to this distortion...

Background More frequent engagement in cognitive activity is associated with better cognitive function in older adults, but the mechanism of action is not fully understood. Debate remains whether increased cognitive activity provides a meaningful benefit for cognitive health or if decreased cognitive activity represents a prodrome of cognitive impairment. Neurological biomarkers provide a novel way to examine this relationship in the context of cognitive aging. Methods We examined the association of self-reported cognitive activity, cognitive function, and concentrations of three biomarkers in community-dwelling participants of a longitudinal, population-based study...

BACKGROUND: It is not clear whether conventional vascular risk factors are responsible for most strokes in patients younger than 45 years of age. Our objective was to evaluate the association of common risk factors with stroke in individuals under 45 years. METHODS: INTERSTROKE was a case-control study carried out in 32 countries between 2007 and 2015. Patients presenting within 5 days of symptom onset of a first stroke were enrolled as cases. Controls were age and sex matched to cases and had no history of stroke...