Neurology®
The most widely read and highly cited peer-reviewed Neurology journal
Quick Search
Advanced Search
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Correspondence:
Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when Correspondence are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wientjens, D. P.W.M.
Right arrow Articles by van Duijn, C. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wientjens, D. P.W.M.
Right arrow Articles by van Duijn, C. M.
NEUROLOGY 1996;46:1287
© 1996 American Academy of Neurology

Risk factors for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

A reanalysis of case-control studies D. P.W.M. Wientjens, MD, Z. Davanipour, DVM, PhD, A. Hofman, MD, PhD, K. Kondo, MD, W. B. Matthews, DM, FRCP, R. G. Will, MD, FRCP and C. M. van Duijn, PhD

Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (Dr. Wientjens) (Dr. Hofman) (Dr. van Duijn)
Department of Neurology, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (Dr. Wientjens)
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (Dr. Davanipour)
Department of Public Health, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan (Dr. Kondo)
University Department of Clinical Neurology, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, UK (Dr. Matthews)
Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK. (Dr. Will)

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr van Duijn, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical School, PO BOX 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

To review the evidence for risk factors of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), we pooled and reanalyzed the raw data of three case-control studies. The pooled data set comprised 178 patients and 333 control subjects. The strength of association between CJD and putative risk factors was assessed by computing the odds ratio as estimate of the relative risk. The risk of CJD was statistically significantly increased for subjects with a family history of CJD (odds ratio = 19.1; 95% CI 1.1 to 348.0). Further, there was a significant association between the risk of CJD and a history of psychotic disease (odds ratio = 9.9; 95% CI 1.1 to 86.1). Although not significantly increased, there was an elevated risk of CJD for subjects with a family history of dementia, a history of poliomyelitis, subjects employed as health professionals, and subjects ever exposed to cows and sheep. No association could be shown with organ meat consumption, including brain. The negative results of this reanalysis reassures the absence of a common risk factor in all CJD patients. However, the ongoing epidemiologic surveillance of CJD in several European countries may provide more evidence to exclude any environmental exposure early in childhood.

Supported by the Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences (NIHES), the Slow Virus Infection Research Group Japan, and the Japan Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Received August 21, 1995. Accepted in final form November 1, 1995.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Occup. Environ. Med.Home page
E S Johnson, Y Zhou, M Sall, M El Faramawi, N Shah, A Christopher, and N Lewis
Non-malignant disease mortality in meat workers: a model for studying the role of zoonotic transmissible agents in non-malignant chronic diseases in humans
Occup. Environ. Med., December 1, 2007; 64(12): 849 - 855.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 NeurologyHome page
H. J.T. Ward, D. Everington, E. A. Croes, A. Alperovitch, N. Delasnerie-Laupretre, I. Zerr, S. Poser, and C. M. van Duijn
Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and surgery: A case-control study using community controls
Neurology, August 27, 2002; 59(4): 543 - 548.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 QJMHome page
C. E. M. Hillier and R. L. Salmon
Is there evidence for exogenous risk factors in the aetiology and spread of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease?
QJM, September 1, 2000; 93(9): 617 - 631.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am J EpidemiolHome page
C. H. Cohen
Does Improvement in Case Ascertainment Explain the Increase in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Since 1970 in the United Kingdom?
Am. J. Epidemiol., September 1, 2000; 152(5): 474 - 479.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurol. Neurosurg. PsychiatryHome page
S. E Arnold, J. Q Trojanowski, and P. Parchi
Protease resistant prion proteins are not present in sporadic "poor outcome" schizophrenia
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, January 1, 1999; 66(1): 90 - 92.
[Abstract] [Full Text]

Home page
 NEJMHome page
R. T. Johnson and C. J. Gibbs
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and Related Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies
N. Engl. J. Med., December 31, 1998; 339(27): 1994 - 2004.
[Full Text] [PDF]