Summary of Epidemiologic Findings
In the past 5 years, a rapidly accumulating epidemiologic literature suggests that classical and novel risk factors for cardiovascular disease - the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the U.S. -- are also potent risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia. Simply stated, what's good for the heart is also good for the brain. Classical cardiovascular risk factors that appear to affect cognitive function adversely include hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, diabetes, and smoking. These factors are inversely associated with cognitive function in persons with and without a history of clinical cardiovascular disease. Subclinical atherosclerosis, as determined by ultrasound assessment of carotid stenosis or ankle-brachial blood pressure index, has also been shown to correlate inversely with cognitive function. Novel cardiovascular risk factors that have been linked to cognitive dysfunction in aging populations include inflammatory biomarkers such as the acute-phase reactant C-reactive protein and the cytokines interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, as well as thrombotic markers such as fibrinogen and fibrin D-dimer.
Various hormones have been investigated as predictors of cognitive decline or dementia. Elevated levels of glucocorticoids, which are indicative of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation, have been inversely related to cognitive function, but findings have been inconsistent (for example, associations between urinary cortisol and cognitive function have been found in women but not men in the MacArthur Study of Successful Aging). The catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine have been examined in relation to total mortality and physical functional decline, but not (to our knowledge) to cognitive decline in large epidemiologic studies. The metabolic syndrome, a constellation of lipid and nonlipid metabolic risk factors closely linked with insulin resistance, and allostatic load, a broader concept that encompasses not only components of the metabolic syndrome but also glucocorticoid and catecholamine parameters, show promise as predictors of cognitive decline in a few community-based studies. Postmenopausal hormone therapy does not appear to protect against cognitive decline or dementia in large clinical trials.
Dietary factors, such as intake of antioxidant vitamins, folate and other B-vitamins, and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, have been related to cognitive function in observational studies, but clinical trials are lacking. Light-to-moderate alcohol use appears to be protective in observational studies.
A high level of self-reported physical activity and a high level of cardiorespiratory fitness as assessed by a treadmill test have emerged as strong protective factors against cognitive decline in recent observational studies.
The past 5 years have also brought advances in our understanding of brain structural and functional correlates of cognitive decline or dementia, as well as genetic determinants of these outcomes.
General reviews/multiple risk factors:
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Mechanisms by which psychosocial factors may affect cardiovascular disease, and, by extension, cognitive dysfunction:
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