Is metabolic-healthy obesity associated with risk of dementia? An age-stratified analysis of the Whitehall II cohort study.

Background: Metabolically healthy obesity is hypothesized to be a benign condition but whether this is the case for dementia remains debated. We examined the role of age at assessment of metabolic-obesity phenotypes in associations with incident dementia.

Methods: Obesity (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m) and poor metabolic health (≥ 2 of elevated serum triglycerides, low HDL-C, elevated blood pressure, and elevated serum fasting glucose) were used to define four metabolic-obesity phenotypes (metabolically healthy (MHNO) and unhealthy non-obesity (MUNO), metabolically healthy (MHO) and unhealthy obesity (MUO)) at < 60, 60 to < 70, and ≥ 70 years using 6 waves of data from the Whitehall II study and their associations with incident dementia was examined using Cox regression.

Change in lipids before onset of dementia, coronary heart disease, and mortality: A 28-year follow-up Whitehall II prospective cohort study.

Introduction: The association of lipids with dementia remains a subject of debate. Using data from 7,672 participants of the Whitehall II prospective cohort study, we examined whether timing of exposure, length of follow-up, or sex modifies this association.

Methods: Twelve markers of lipid levels were measured from fasting blood and eight among them a further five times.

Contribution of smoking towards the association between socioeconomic position and dementia: 32-year follow-up of the Whitehall II prospective cohort study.

Background: There is consistent evidence of social inequalities in dementia but the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. We examined the role of smoking in midlife in socioeconomic differences in dementia at older ages.

Methods: Analyses were based on 9951 (67% men) participants, median age 44.

Circulating serum metabolites as predictors of dementia: a machine learning approach in a 21-year follow-up of the Whitehall II cohort study.

Background: Age is the strongest risk factor for dementia and there is considerable interest in identifying scalable, blood-based biomarkers in predicting dementia. We examined the role of midlife serum metabolites using a machine learning approach and determined whether the selected metabolites improved prediction accuracy beyond the effect of age.

Methods: Five thousand three hundred seventy-four participants from the Whitehall II study, mean age 55.

Association of Metabolic Syndrome With Incident Dementia: Role of Number and Age at Measurement of Components in a 28-Year Follow-up of the Whitehall II Cohort Study.

Objective: Previous research suggests an inconsistent association between Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and incident dementia. We examined the role of number of MetS components and age at their assessment for incident dementia.

Research Design And Methods: MetS components (fasting glucose, triglycerides, waist circumference, blood pressure, and HDL cholesterol) on 7,265, 6,660, and 3,608 participants at <60, 60 to <70, and ≥70 years of age were used to examine associations with incident dementia using cause-specific Cox regression.

Association between kidney function and incidence of dementia: 10-year follow-up of the Whitehall II cohort study.

Background: Cognitive dysfunction is common in haemodialysis patients but whether poor kidney function in the general population is also associated with higher risk of dementia remains unclear.

Objective: To examine the association of kidney function with incident dementia in community dwelling older adults.

Design: Whitehall II prospective study.

Terminal decline in objective and self-reported measures of motor function before death: 10 year follow-up of Whitehall II cohort study.

Objectives: To examine multiple objective and self-reported measures of motor function for their associations with mortality.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: UK based Whitehall II cohort study, which recruited participants aged 35-55 years in 1985-88; motor function component was added at the 2007-09 wave.

Diet Quality and the Risk of Impaired Speech Reception Threshold in Noise: The UK Biobank cohort.

Objective: Previous studies have examined the association between several diet quality indexes and risk of hearing loss, based on self-reported information or on audiometry test, with inconsistent results. However, the impact of healthy diets on the capacity to listening in noise, a proxy of disability due to hearing loss, is unknown. This research assessed the prospective association between five diet quality indexes and the speech reception threshold in noise in the UK Biobank study.

Comparison of the predictive accuracy of multiple definitions of cognitive impairment for incident dementia: a 20-year follow-up of the Whitehall II cohort study.

Background: Studies generally use cognitive assessment done at one timepoint to define cognitive impairment in order to examine conversion to dementia. Our objective was to examine the predictive accuracy and conversion rate of seven alternate definitions of cognitive impairment for dementia.

Methods: In this prospective study, we included participants from the Whitehall II cohort study who were assessed for cognitive impairment in 2007-09 and were followed up for clinically diagnosed dementia.

Association Between Age at Diabetes Onset and Subsequent Risk of Dementia.

Importance: Trends in type 2 diabetes show an increase in prevalence along with younger age of onset. While vascular complications of early-onset type 2 diabetes are known, the associations with dementia remains unclear.

Objective: To determine whether younger age at diabetes onset is more strongly associated with incidence of dementia.

Coffee consumption and risk of hearing impairment in men and women.

Background: Hearing loss is the fifth leading cause of disability in the world. Coffee consumption might have a beneficial effect on hearing function because of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of some of its compounds. However, no previous longitudinal study has assessed the association between coffee consumption and the risk of hearing impairment.

Dairy consumption and risk of falls in 2 European cohorts of older adults.

Background & Aims: Some previous evidence have linked dairy products with greater muscle mass, bone mineral density and lower risk of osteoporosis. However, there is also evidence of a detrimental effect of milk on the risk of hip fracture. The aim of this study was to assess the prospective association between dairy consumption and risk of falls in older adults.

High dephospho-uncarboxylated matrix Gla protein concentrations, a plasma biomarker of vitamin K, in relation to frailty: the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam.

Purpose: No previous study has evaluated the relationship between vitamin K and frailty. Thus, we assessed the relationship between vitamin K status and frailty over 13 years in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA).

Methods: Prospective cohort study with 644 community-dwelling adults ≥ 55 years from the LASA cohort.

Habitual coffee consumption and risk of falls in 2 European cohorts of older adults.

Background: Habitual coffee consumption has been associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and sarcopenia, which are strong risk factors of falls. In addition, caffeine intake stimulates attention and vigilance, and reduces reaction time. Therefore, a protective effect of coffee on the risk of falling can be hypothesized.

Prospective Association Between Nut Consumption and Physical Function in Older Men and Women.

Background: The beneficial effect of nut consumption preventing cardio-metabolic diseases and cancer suggests that nuts might also protect from physical function impairment in older people since aging-related functional decline shares biological pathways with these chronic diseases. The objective was to examine the association between nut consumption and impairment of physical function in older adults.

Methods: Prospective study with 3,289 individuals aged ≥60 years from the Seniors-ENRICA cohort.

Coffee consumption and risk of physical function impairment, frailty and disability in older adults.

Purpose: Habitual coffee consumption has been associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Since these diseases are main determinants of functional limitations, we have tested the hypothesis that coffee intake is associated with lower risk of physical function impairment, frailty and disability in older adults. We focused on women and those with obesity, hypertension or type 2 diabetes because they are at higher risk of functional limitations.