Comment on “Nutritional and hematological factors associated with the progression of Alzheimer’s disease: a cohort study”

Dear Editor,

We were pleased to read the high-level paper published by the research group of E. de Gregorio¹. Their findings revealed that overweight or obese may promote the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and may also be the risk factors of dementia. Although this study was of great significance for the prevention and treatment of AD, we believe that there are some problems should be addressed.

First of all, since this prospective cohort study intended to explore the relationship between obesity and the risk of AD, obviously, the subjects should have been divided into two groups: obesity group and healthy group; and then, calculating the frequency of AD between two groups in the following-up. It was clear that the failure of the study was not to set up a control group.

In addition, the sample size of this study was small. There were no detail descriptions of the inclusion and exclusion criteria of AD in the methods section. The authors only compared the biochemistry of the subjects between two years (2011 and 2014). What causes the changes of biochemical? The biochemical index might have been changed with age.

Finally, the general demographic characteristics of the subjects, such as age, gender and occupation should be described. The study aimed to evaluate the relationship between dietary habit and cognitive function; however, intervention trial was not offered in the present study. The measurement of the vitamins intake should have been included in methods section.

REFERENCE

• ¹
  Gregório E, Patrzyk LH, Fiebrantz AKB, Bonini JS, Cambruzzi DH, Diedrich C, et al. Nutritional and hematological factors associated with the progression of Alzheimer’s disease: a cohort study. Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2019;65(2):222-31. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.65.2.222
  » https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.65.2.222

• Funding: none

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  15 Oct 2021
• Date of issue
  June 2021

History

• Received
  21 Mar 2021
• Accepted
  26 Apr 2021