Risk factors for vascular dementia: a hospital-based study in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND In Taiwan, next to Alsheimer's, vascular dementia (VD) is the second leading cause of dementia in the elderly. Few studies have examined cardiovascular risk factors and their association with VD in Taiwan. METHODS This is a case-control study using a sampling of subjects from the outpatient memory clinics of two hospitals. Identified cases were those patients diagnosed with VD based on the DSM-IV criteria. The controls were subjects with Clinical Dementia Rating Scale as 0, i.e. no dementia from the same dementia registry database. Exposure was recorded by means of a risk factor questionnaire or medical examination. RESULTS There were a total of 190 patients with VD and 155 controls in this study. Significant risk factors were age, hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia. There was no correlation with sex, education, cigarette smoking or alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS This study confirmed reported cardiovascular risk factors contributing to VD as in Western countries.