Cardiovascular Risk Associated with Poorer Memory in Middle-Aged Adults from the Healthy Brain Project
- Author(s)
- Yassi, N; Pase, MP; Buckley, RF; Rosenich, E; Watson, R; Maruff, P; Lim, YY;
- Journal Title
- Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD
- Publication Type
- epub ahead of print
- Abstract
- BACKGROUND: Midlife cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) are associated with reduced cognition and an increased risk of dementia. OBJECTIVE: To further investigate this association using remote unsupervised online assessment of cognition and cardiovascular risk in middle-aged adults; and to explore the extent to which the association is altered by carriage of the APOE ɛ4 allele. METHODS: The Healthy Brain Project is an online cohort of middle-aged cognitively unimpaired adults (40-70 years) who have undergone cognitive assessment and provided self-reports of demographic and health history. Cardiovascular risk was determined by ascertaining history of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, overweight (body mass index≥25), and current cigarette smoking. Participants (n = 2,480) were then grouped based on the number of reported CVRF into no CVRF, 1, 2, and≥3 CVRF. Associations between the number of CVRF as a continuous variable, CVRF group, and each individual CVRF with composite measures of attention, memory and subjective cognitive function were investigated. RESULTS: Higher number of CVRF was associated with poorer attention (β= -0.042, p = 0.039) and memory (β= -0.080, p < 0.001), but not with subjective cognitive function. When considered individually, current smoking (β= -0.400, p = 0.015), diabetes (β= -0.251, p = 0.023), and hypercholesterolemia (β= -0.109, p = 0.044) were independently associated with poorer memory performance. APOE ɛ4 carriers with≥1 CVRF performed worse on memory than ɛ4 carriers with no CVRFs (β(SE) = 0.259(0.077), p = 0.004). This was not observed in ɛ4 non-carriers. CONCLUSION: In cognitively normal middle-aged adults, CVRF were associated with poorer cognition, particularly in the memory domain. These results support feasibility of online assessment of cardiovascular risk for cognitive impairment.
- Keywords
- Alzheimer’s disease; cardiovascular risk factors; diabetes mellitus; dyslipidemias; smoking
- PubMed ID
- 35147538
- Publisher's Version
- https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-215375
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- Refer to copyright notice on published article.
Creation Date: 2022-02-18 10:38:07
Last Modified: 2022-02-18 11:16:51