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AlzRisk Paper Detail
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Reference: Schofield, 1997
Cohort: Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project
Risk Factor: Head injury


Average Follow-up Time Detail
We estimated average person-years of follow-up by multiplying the reported average follow-up time by the number of persons.

Exposure Detail
History of head injury was ascertained twice for participants in this study. First, any head injury resulting in a loss of consciousness was ascertained by a physician interviewer. In a separate interview, head injury resulting in a loss of consciousness or amnesia was ascertained by a trained risk factor interviewer. Participants who confirmed a history of head injury through the risk factor interviewer were asked further questions on when the injury occurred and the duration of any loss of consciousness, which was recorded as "< 5 minutes, 5-29 minutes, 29-59 minutes, 1-24
hours, or > 24 hours. A report of head injury with amnesia but no loss of consciousness, would lead to classification as head injury with loss of consciousness< 5 minutes by the risk factor interviewer, but that same history would be recorded as no head injury with loss of consciousness by the physician."

Screening and Diagnosis Detail
Screening Method:
CDRClinical Dementia Rating (Berg 1988) (CDR)

AD Diagnosis:
NINCDS ADRDA National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Diseases and Stroke/Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association Criteria (McKhann 1984)

Total dementia definition: "Dementia was diagnosed by means of a strict algorithm which required that patients met threshold criteria on neuropsychological evaluation, had evidence of functional impairment either by history or examination, and that the cognitive problems could not be attributed to an acute confusional state. The neuropsychological criteria for dementia were performance below previously defined cut off scores in two out of three memory domains, and in at least two tests of other
cognitive domains.(10)"

Covariates & Analysis Detail
Analysis Type:
Cox proportional hazards regression

Age was the time scale in the proportional hazards analysis.

AD Covariates:
Aage
Eeducation
Ggender
Oother
§ Covariates for total dementia are different.

TD Covariates:
Aage
Eeducation
Ggender

AD analyses were also adjusted for history of memory complaints and baseline Buschke selective reminding test scores.