Association between Hypothyroidism Onset and Alzheimer Disease Onset in Adults with Down Syndrome. 2021

Florence Lai, and Nathaniel D Mercaldo, and Cassandra M Wang, and Micaela S Hersch, and Giovi G Hersch, and Herminia Diana Rosas
Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

Adults with Down syndrome (DS) have an exceptionally high frequency of Alzheimer disease (AD) with a wide variability in onset, from 40 to 70 years of age. Equally prevalent in DS is hypothyroidism. In this study, we sought to quantify the relationship between the two. A total of 232 adults with DS and AD were stratified into three AD onset age groups: early (<47 years), typical (48-59), and late (>59). Among patients with available data, differences in the distributions of demographics, hypothyroidism variables (presence, age of onset), thyroid function tests, thyroid autoantibodies, and APOE genotypes were assessed (e.g., chi-squared, Mann-Whitney tests). Spearman and partial Spearman correlations and ordinal logistic regression models were constructed to quantify the association between ages of AD and hypothyroidism onset with and without covariate adjustments. We observed a positive association between the ages of AD and hypothyroidism onset after accounting for APOE-Ɛ4 (correlation: 0.44, 0.24, 0.60; odds ratio: 1.09, 1.05-1.14). However, an early age of hypothyroidism onset and the presence of the APOE-Ɛ4 allele were independently associated with the early age of AD onset. Similar findings were observed when accounting for other factors. Our study provides evidence for the importance of hypothyroidism and associated pathological mechanisms for risk of AD in DS.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries

Related Publications

Florence Lai, and Nathaniel D Mercaldo, and Cassandra M Wang, and Micaela S Hersch, and Giovi G Hersch, and Herminia Diana Rosas
May 1988, Mechanisms of ageing and development,
Florence Lai, and Nathaniel D Mercaldo, and Cassandra M Wang, and Micaela S Hersch, and Giovi G Hersch, and Herminia Diana Rosas
May 2022, JAMA network open,
Florence Lai, and Nathaniel D Mercaldo, and Cassandra M Wang, and Micaela S Hersch, and Giovi G Hersch, and Herminia Diana Rosas
April 2020, Neurobiology of disease,
Florence Lai, and Nathaniel D Mercaldo, and Cassandra M Wang, and Micaela S Hersch, and Giovi G Hersch, and Herminia Diana Rosas
November 2023, medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences,
Florence Lai, and Nathaniel D Mercaldo, and Cassandra M Wang, and Micaela S Hersch, and Giovi G Hersch, and Herminia Diana Rosas
October 1986, The Journal of pediatrics,
Florence Lai, and Nathaniel D Mercaldo, and Cassandra M Wang, and Micaela S Hersch, and Giovi G Hersch, and Herminia Diana Rosas
January 1992, Progress in clinical and biological research,
Florence Lai, and Nathaniel D Mercaldo, and Cassandra M Wang, and Micaela S Hersch, and Giovi G Hersch, and Herminia Diana Rosas
July 2021, Journal of clinical medicine,
Florence Lai, and Nathaniel D Mercaldo, and Cassandra M Wang, and Micaela S Hersch, and Giovi G Hersch, and Herminia Diana Rosas
June 1990, American journal of medical genetics,
Florence Lai, and Nathaniel D Mercaldo, and Cassandra M Wang, and Micaela S Hersch, and Giovi G Hersch, and Herminia Diana Rosas
March 2012, Nature reviews. Neurology,
Florence Lai, and Nathaniel D Mercaldo, and Cassandra M Wang, and Micaela S Hersch, and Giovi G Hersch, and Herminia Diana Rosas
May 2002, American journal of medical genetics,
Copied contents to your clipboard!