POSSIBILITY THAT SOLVENT EXPOSURE IS A RISK FACTOR FOR ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE - INVITED COMMENTARY

Although exposure to solvents seems to cause chronic neurotoxic effects, earlier studies have not indicated any clear relation with Alzheimer's disease as now shown in the study by Kukull et al. (Am J Epidemiol 1995;141:1059-71). This new finding is not without prior credibility since solvent exposure has been associated with such neuropsychiatric disease entities, which could have included unrecognized cases of Alzheimer's disease. When validity is considered, the increased risk from solvent exposure is less likely to depend on recall bias or confounding, but some degree of selection bias may be hypothesized because of the way in which cases and controls were recruited.