Study design
This study is embedded within the Rotterdam Study, a prospective population-based cohort designed to study the occurrence and determinants of diseases in the older population, as described previously24. Briefly, in 1990 all inhabitants aged 55 years or over from the district Ommoord in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, were invited to participate. The initial cohort comprised 7983 participants (subcohort RS-I) and was extended in 2000 with 3011 participants (subcohort RS-II) who had become 55 years of age or moved into the study district. In 2006, the cohort was further extended (subcohort RS-III) with 3932 participants aged 45 years or over. In total, the Rotterdam Study comprises 14,926 participants. Brain MRI scanning was performed in the Rotterdam Study population from 2005 onwards. The Rotterdam Study has been approved by the medical ethics committee according to the…
