A Population-Based Study of Dementia in 85-Year-Olds

To the Editor: Skoog et al. and Larson (Jan. 21 issue)¹,² emphasize that a lack of diagnostic criteria is one of the major reasons for the paucity of epidemiologic studies of vascular dementia. To address this problem, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the Association Internationale pour la Recherche et l'Enseignement en Neurosciences (AIREN) in Geneva organized an international workshop to propose diagnostic criteria for vascular dementia³. The resulting NINDS-AIREN diagnostic criteria for research studies of vascular dementia⁴ emphasize the heterogeneity of the cerebrovascular disorders underlying vascular dementia, including ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, cerebral…