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High occurrence of transportation and logistics occupations among vascular dementia patients : An observational study

Van Loenhoud, A. C. ; De Boer, C. ; Wols, K. ; Pijnenburg, Y. A. ; Lemstra, A. W. ; Bouwman, F. H. ; Prins, N. D. ; Scheltens, P. ; Ossenkoppele, R. LU and Van Der Flier, W. M. (2019) In Alzheimer's Research and Therapy 11(1).
Abstract

Background: Growing evidence suggests a role of occupation in the emergence and manifestation of dementia. Occupations are often defined by complexity level, although working environments and activities differ in several other important ways. We aimed to capture the multi-faceted nature of occupation through its measurement as a qualitative (instead of a quantitative) variable and explored its relationship with different types of dementia. Methods: We collected occupational information of 2121 dementia patients with various suspected etiologies from the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort (age 67 ± 8, 57% male; MMSE 21 ± 5). Our final sample included individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia (n = 1467), frontotemporal dementia (n = 281),... (More)

Background: Growing evidence suggests a role of occupation in the emergence and manifestation of dementia. Occupations are often defined by complexity level, although working environments and activities differ in several other important ways. We aimed to capture the multi-faceted nature of occupation through its measurement as a qualitative (instead of a quantitative) variable and explored its relationship with different types of dementia. Methods: We collected occupational information of 2121 dementia patients with various suspected etiologies from the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort (age 67 ± 8, 57% male; MMSE 21 ± 5). Our final sample included individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia (n = 1467), frontotemporal dementia (n = 281), vascular dementia (n = 98), Lewy body disease (n = 174), and progressive supranuclear palsy/corticobasal degeneration (n = 101). Within the AD group, we used neuropsychological data to further characterize patients by clinical phenotypes. All participants were categorized into 1 of 11 occupational classes, across which we evaluated the distribution of dementia (sub)types with χ 2 analyses. We gained further insight into occupation-dementia relationships through post hoc logistic regressions that included various demographic and health characteristics as explanatory variables. Results: There were significant differences in the distribution of dementia types across occupation groups (χ 2 = 85.87, p <.001). Vascular dementia was relatively common in the Transportation/Logistics sector, and higher vascular risk factors partly explained this relationship. AD occurred less in Transportation/Logistics and more in Health Care/Welfare occupations, which related to a higher/lower percentage of males. We found no relationships between occupational classes and clinical phenotypes of AD (χ 2 = 53.65, n.s.). Conclusions: Relationships between occupation and dementia seem to exist beyond the complexity level, which offers new opportunities for disease prevention and improvement of occupational health policy.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Alzheimer's disease, Occupation, Sex, Vascular dementia, Vascular risk factors
in
Alzheimer's Research and Therapy
volume
11
issue
1
article number
112
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:31882022
  • scopus:85077241296
ISSN
1758-9193
DOI
10.1186/s13195-019-0570-4
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e8aec334-55da-48f4-9262-311a0a2b5327
date added to LUP
2020-01-10 12:25:46
date last changed
2024-05-15 04:50:26
@article{e8aec334-55da-48f4-9262-311a0a2b5327,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Growing evidence suggests a role of occupation in the emergence and manifestation of dementia. Occupations are often defined by complexity level, although working environments and activities differ in several other important ways. We aimed to capture the multi-faceted nature of occupation through its measurement as a qualitative (instead of a quantitative) variable and explored its relationship with different types of dementia. Methods: We collected occupational information of 2121 dementia patients with various suspected etiologies from the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort (age 67 ± 8, 57% male; MMSE 21 ± 5). Our final sample included individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia (n = 1467), frontotemporal dementia (n = 281), vascular dementia (n = 98), Lewy body disease (n = 174), and progressive supranuclear palsy/corticobasal degeneration (n = 101). Within the AD group, we used neuropsychological data to further characterize patients by clinical phenotypes. All participants were categorized into 1 of 11 occupational classes, across which we evaluated the distribution of dementia (sub)types with χ <sup>2</sup> analyses. We gained further insight into occupation-dementia relationships through post hoc logistic regressions that included various demographic and health characteristics as explanatory variables. Results: There were significant differences in the distribution of dementia types across occupation groups (χ <sup>2</sup> = 85.87, p &lt;.001). Vascular dementia was relatively common in the Transportation/Logistics sector, and higher vascular risk factors partly explained this relationship. AD occurred less in Transportation/Logistics and more in Health Care/Welfare occupations, which related to a higher/lower percentage of males. We found no relationships between occupational classes and clinical phenotypes of AD (χ <sup>2</sup> = 53.65, n.s.). Conclusions: Relationships between occupation and dementia seem to exist beyond the complexity level, which offers new opportunities for disease prevention and improvement of occupational health policy.</p>}},
  author       = {{Van Loenhoud, A. C. and De Boer, C. and Wols, K. and Pijnenburg, Y. A. and Lemstra, A. W. and Bouwman, F. H. and Prins, N. D. and Scheltens, P. and Ossenkoppele, R. and Van Der Flier, W. M.}},
  issn         = {{1758-9193}},
  keywords     = {{Alzheimer's disease; Occupation; Sex; Vascular dementia; Vascular risk factors}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{Alzheimer's Research and Therapy}},
  title        = {{High occurrence of transportation and logistics occupations among vascular dementia patients : An observational study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13195-019-0570-4}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s13195-019-0570-4}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}