@article{acb9e45798bd4c38be0464e786f7d4af,
title = "Medical Doctors and Dementia: A Longitudinal Study",
abstract = "OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between being a medical doctor (MD) and the risk of incident dementia. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: Olmsted County, Minnesota. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3460 participants (including 104 MDs), aged 70 years or older, of the population-based Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. MEASUREMENTS: Participants were randomly selected from the community and had comprehensive cognitive evaluations at baseline and approximately every 15 months to assess for diagnosis of dementia. For participants who withdrew from the follow-up, dementia diagnosis was also assessed using information available in their medical record. The associations were examined using Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for sex, education, and apolipoprotein E ε4, using age as the time scale. RESULTS: MDs were older (vs “general population”), and most were males (93.3%). MDs without dementia at baseline did not have a significantly different risk for incident dementia (hazard ratio = 1.12; 95% confidence interval = 0.69-1.82; P =.64) compared to the general population. CONCLUSIONS: Although the study includes a small number of older, mainly male, MDs, it provides a preliminary insight on cognitive health later in life in MDs, while most previous studies examine the health of younger MDs. Larger longitudinal studies are needed to examine these associations and investigate if associations are modified by sex. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1250–1255, 2020.",
keywords = "cohort study, dementia, medical doctors",
author = "Maria Vassilaki and Syrjanen, {Jeremy A.} and Kremers, {Walter K.} and Hagen, {Philip T.} and Knopman, {David S.} and Mielke, {Michelle M.} and Geda, {Yonas E.} and Alhurani, {Rabe E.} and Machulda, {Mary M.} and Roberts, {Rosebud O.} and Petersen, {Ronald C.}",
note = "Funding Information: Yonas E. Geda receives funding from the NIH and Roche and serves on the Lundbeck Advisory Board. Funding Information: David S. Knopman serves on a Data Safety Monitoring Board for the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network‐Treatment Unit study; is an investigator in clinical trials sponsored by Lilly Pharmaceuticals, Biogen, and the Alzheimer's Treatment and Research Institute at University of Southern California; and receives research support from the NIH. Funding Information: The study was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants U01 AG006786 and P50 AG016574, the GHR Foundation, and the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; and was made possible by the Rochester Epidemiology Project (R01 AG034676). Jeremy A. Syrjanen, Rabe E. Alhurani, Rosebud O. Roberts, and Philip T. Hagen: no conflict of interest. Maria Vassilaki receives research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Roche, and Biogen. Walter K. Kremers receives research funding from the Department of Defense, NIH, Astra Zeneca, Biogen, and Roche. Michelle M. Mielke consults for Eli Lilly, receives unrestricted research grants from Biogen, Lundbeck, and Roche, and receives research funding from the National Institute on Aging, NIH, and the Department of Defense. Yonas E. Geda receives funding from the NIH and Roche and serves on the Lundbeck Advisory Board. Mary M. Machulda receives research funding from NIH. David S. Knopman serves on a Data Safety Monitoring Board for the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network-Treatment Unit study; is an investigator in clinical trials sponsored by Lilly Pharmaceuticals, Biogen, and the Alzheimer's Treatment and Research Institute at University of Southern California; and receives research support from the NIH. Ronald C. Petersen is a consultant for Roche, Inc, Biogen, Inc, Merck, Inc, Eli Lilly and Company, and Genentech, Inc; and receives publishing royalties from Mild Cognitive Impairment (Oxford University Press, 2003) and research support from the NIH. Dr. Vassilaki had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Study concept and design: Hagen, Roberts, Petersen, Vassilaki. Acquisition of data: Vassilaki, Roberts, Knopman, Geda, Mielke, Alhurani, Machulda, Petersen. Analysis and interpretation of data: All authors. Drafting of the manuscript: Vassilaki. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors. The funders had no role in the design, methods, subject recruitment, data collection, analysis, and preparation of the article. Funding Information: The study was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants U01 AG006786 and P50 AG016574, the GHR Foundation, and the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; and was made possible by the Rochester Epidemiology Project (R01 AG034676). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The American Geriatrics Society",
year = "2020",
month = jun,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1111/jgs.16375",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "68",
pages = "1250--1255",
journal = "Journal of the American Geriatrics Society",
issn = "0002-8614",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "6",
}