Original Article
Maria Regina Pereira de Godoy,
Abstract
Aim: The objective of this study was to assess the association between Alzheimer’s disease and elevated levels of anticardiolipin antibodies. Design and Setting: Prospective study, the levels of anticardiolipin antibodies from Alzheimer’s disease was evaluated in Neurogeriatric Ambulatory in Hospital de Base-São Jose do Rio Preto. Patients and Method: Thirty-one patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease was evaluated. Twenty-three of the patients were female and eight male with ages ranging from 62 to 79 years old and a mean of 71.2 years. The NINCDS-ADRDA criteria were used to assess the Alzheimer’s disease. The control group was made up of 25 female and 9 male participants of a senior citizen group with ages, which varied from 62 to 80 years old. with an average of 68 years. Evaluation of the anticardiolipin antibodies was performed by means of Enzyme-Linked Immunoabsorbent Assay (ELISA) for quantitative measurement of IgG and IgM antibodies against cardiolipins in serum. Statistical analysis was made using the Fisher’s exact test, p-value < 0.05. Results: Elevated aCL levels were observed in 9 (29%) of the 31 Alzheimer’s disease patients. In the control group, 9 (26.4%) of the 34 presented with elevated levels of aCL giving a p-value of 0.58.Conclusions: This study did not evidence an association between Alzheimer’s Disease and elevated levels of aCL.