Cancer and Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: Small Association in a Nationwide Cohort Study

Overview

Journal Alzheimers Dement

Specialties Neurology
Psychiatry

Date 2020 May 21

PMID 32432415

Citations 21

Authors

Anne G Ording

Erzsebet Horvath-Puho

Katalin Veres

M Maria Glymour

Mikael Rorth

Henrik T Sorensen

Victor W Henderson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: Small observational studies with short-term follow-up suggest that cancer patients are at reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to the general population.

Methods: A nationwide cohort study using Danish population-based health registries (1980-2013) with cancer patients (n = 949,309) to identify incident diagnoses of AD. We computed absolute reductions in risk attributed to cancer and standardized incidence rate ratios (SIRs) accounting for survival time, comparing the observed to expected number of AD cases.

Results: During up to 34 years of follow-up of cancer survivors, the attributable risk reduction was 1.3 per 10,000 person-years, SIR = 0.94 (95% confidence interval 0.92-0.96). SIRs were similar after stratification by sex, age, and cancer stage, and approached that of the general population for those surviving >10 years.

Discussion: Inverse associations between cancer and AD were small and diminished over time. Incidence rates in cancer survivors approached those of the general population, suggesting limited association between cancer and AD risk.

Citing Articles

Unraveling the bidirectional link between cancer and dementia and the impact of cancer therapies on dementia risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Ma L, Tan E, Goudey B, Jin L, Pan Y Alzheimers Dement. 2025; 21(2):e14540.

PMID: 39807644 PMC: 11851135. DOI: 10.1002/alz.14540.

Lower Incidence of Dementia Following Cancer Diagnoses: Evidence from a Large Cohort and Mendelian Randomization Study.

Bassil D, Zheng B, Su B, Kafetsouli D, Udeh-Momoh C, Tzoulaki I J Prev Alzheimers Dis. 2024; 11(5):1397-1405.

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The inverse association between cancer history and incident cognitive impairment: Addressing attrition bias.

Shardell M, Rathbun A, Gruber-Baldini A, Ryan A, Guralnik J, Kapogiannis D Alzheimers Dement. 2024; 20(11):7902-7912.

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Associations between physical diseases and subsequent mental disorders: a longitudinal study in a population-based cohort.

Momen N, Ostergaard S, Heide-Jorgensen U, Sorensen H, McGrath J, Plana-Ripoll O World Psychiatry. 2024; 23(3):421-431.

PMID: 39279421 PMC: 11403178. DOI: 10.1002/wps.21242.

Dementia incidence varied by anticancer drugs and molecular targeted therapy in a population-based cohort study.

Lee E, Kang D, Lee J, Seo S, Kim C, Cho J Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):17485.

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