Accumulation of Lewy-Related Pathology Starts in Middle Age: The Tampere Sudden Death Study.

Kok, Eloise H; Paetau, Anders; Martiskainen, Mika; Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka; Lehtimäki, Terho; Karhunen, Pekka; Myllykangas, Liisa · Ann Neurol · 2024

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Abstract

When effective treatments against neurodegenerative diseases become a reality, it will be important to know the age these pathologies begin to develop. We investigated alpha-synuclein pathology in brain tissue of the Tampere Sudden Death Study-unselected forensic autopsies on individuals living outside hospital institutions in Finland. Of 562 (16-95 years) participants, 42 were positive for Lewy-related pathology (LRP). The youngest LRP case was aged 54 years, and the frequency of LRP in individuals aged ≥50 years was 9%. This forensic autopsy study indicates LRP starts already in middle age and is more common than expected in the ≥50 years-of-age non-hospitalized population. ANN NEUROL 2024;95:843-848.

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