Association of Obesity With Cognitive Decline in Black and White Americans
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Abstract
Background and Objectives There are disparities in the prevalence of obesity by race, and the relationship between obesity and cognitive decline is unclear. The objective of this study was to determine whether obesity is independently associated with cognitive decline and whether the association between obesity and cognitive decline differs in Black and White adults. We hypothesized that obesity is associated with greater cognitive decline compared with normal weight and that the effect of obesity on cognitive decline is more pronounced in Black adults compared with their White counterparts.
Methods We pooled data from 28,867 participants free of stroke and dementia (mean, SD: age 61 [10.7] years at the first cognitive assessment, 55% female, 24% Black, and 29% obese) from 6 cohorts. The primary outcome was the annual change in global cognition. We performed linear mixed-effects models with and without time-varying cumulative mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG). Global cognition was set to a t-score metric (mean 50, SD 10) at a participant's first cognitive assessment; a 1-point difference represents a 0.1 SD difference in global cognition across the 6 cohorts. The median follow-up was 6.5 years (25th percentile, 75th percentile: 5.03, 20.15).
Results Obese participants had lower baseline global cognition than normal-weight participants (difference in intercepts, −0.36 [95% CI, −0.46 to −0.17]; p < 0.001). This difference in baseline global cognition was attenuated but was borderline significant after accounting for SBP and FPG (adjusted differences in intercepts, −0.19 [95% CI, −0.39 to 0.002]; p = 0.05). There was no difference in the rate of decline in global cognition between obese and normal-weight participants (difference in slope, 0.009 points/year [95% CI, −0.009 to 0.03]; p = 0.32). After accounting for SBP and FPG, obese participants had a slower decline in global cognition (adjusted difference in slope, 0.03 points/year slower [95% CI, 0.01 to 0.05]; p < 0.001). There was no evidence that race modified the association between body mass index and global cognitive decline (p = 0.34).
Discussion These results suggest that obesity is associated with lower initial cognitive scores and may potentially attenuate declines in cognition after accounting for BP and FPG.
Glossary
- ARIC=
- Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities;
- BMI=
- body mass index;
- BP‐COG=
- Blood Pressure-Cognition;
- CARDIA=
- Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults;
- CHS=
- Cardiovascular Health Study;
- CID=
- cognitive impairment and dementia;
- eGFR=
- estimated glomerular filtration rate;
- FPG=
- fasting plasma glucose;
- LDL=
- low-density lipoprotein;
- SBP=
- systolic blood pressure;
- WC=
- waist circumference;
- WHO=
- World Health Organization
Footnotes
Go to Neurology.org/N for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article.
Submitted and externally peer reviewed. The handling editor was Linda Hershey, MD, PhD, FAAN.
- Received March 6, 2022.
- Accepted in final form August 22, 2022.
- Written work prepared by employees of the Federal Government as part of their official duties is, under the U.S. Copyright Act, a “work of the United States Government” for which copyright protection under Title 17 of the United States Code is not available. As such, copyright does not extend to the contributions of employees of the Federal Government.
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