ArticleEpidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)2015
Geographical variation in dementia: examining the role of environmental factors in Sweden and Scotland.
Article in Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Geospatial Analysis of Environmental Atmospheric Risk Factors in Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Combining Geospatial Analysis with Dementia Risk Utilising General Practice Data: A Systematic Review.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2018Pooled it
- Dementia ascertainment using existing data in UK longitudinal and cohort studies: a systematic review of methodology.BMC psychiatry · 2017Pooled it
- Environmental risk factors for dementia: a systematic review.BMC geriatrics · 2016Pooled it
- Trends in the Incidence of Early- and Late-Onset Dementia in 2011-2019: A Nationwide Population-Based Study.Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders · 2026Article
- Prevalence of dementia diagnosis in Sweden by geographical region and sociodemographic subgroups: a nationwide observational study.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2024Article
- Changes in the prevalence of dementia in Australia and its association with geographic remoteness.PloS one · 2023Article
- Temporal Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Trends in the Very Old in the 21st Century.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2023Article
- The role of geographic information system and global positioning system in dementia care and research: a scoping review.International journal of health geographics · 2022Article
- Observational
- Five-decade trajectories in body mass index in relation to dementia death: follow-up of 33,083 male Harvard University alumni.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2019Article
- Geographic Clustering of Admissions to Inpatient Psychiatry among Adults with Cognitive Disorders in Ontario, Canada: Does Distance to Hospital Matter?Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2018Article
- Childhood Cognitive Ability and Incident Dementia: The 1932 Scottish Mental Survey Cohort into their 10th Decade.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThis study aimed to estimate the magnitude of geographical variation in dementia rates and suggest explanations for this variation. Small-area studies are scarce, and none has adequately investigated the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the distribution of dementia.
methodsWe present 2 complementary small-area hierarchical Bayesian disease-mapping studies using the comprehensive Swedish Twin Registry (n = 27,680) and the 1932 Scottish Mental Survey cohort (n = 37,597). The twin study allowed us to examine the effect of unshared environmental factors. The Scottish Mental Survey study allowed us to examine various epochs in the life course-approximately age 11 years and adulthood.
resultsWe found a 2- to 3-fold geographical variation in dementia odds in Sweden, after twin random effects-likely to capture genetic and shared environmental variance-were removed. In Scotland, we found no variation in dementia odds in childhood but substantial variation, following a broadly similar pattern to Sweden, by adulthood.
conclusionsThere is geographical variation in dementia rates. Most of this variation is likely to result from unshared environmental factors that have their effect in adolescence or later. Further work is required to confirm these findings and identify any potentially modifiable socioenvironmental risk factors for dementia responsible for this geographical variation in risk. However, if these factors do exist and could be optimized in the whole population, our results suggest that dementia rates could be halved.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.