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From Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (T.L.H.), Boston, MA; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (M.C.C., P.P.Z.), Baltimore, MD; Department of Mental Health, University of Washington (A.L.F.), Seattle; University of Pittsburgh (L.H.K.), PA; and Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine (L.P.F.), Baltimore, MD.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Tina L. Huang, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Dietary Assessment & Epidemiology Research Program, 9th Floor, 711 Washington St., Boston, MA 02111 tina.huang{at}tufts.edu
Objectives: To determine if anthropometric measures, as markers of early life environment, are associated with risk of dementia, Alzheimer disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD).
Methods: A total of 2,798 subjects were followed as part of the Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study for an average of 5.4 years; 480 developed dementia. Knee height was measured 3 years prior to and arm span 4 years after the study’s baseline. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine their association with subsequent risk of dementia, AD, and VaD.
Results: Among women, greater knee height and arm span were associated with lower risks of dementia (knee height: HR per 1-inch increase 0.84; 95% CI 0.74–0.96; arm span: HR per 1-inch increase 0.93; 95% CI 0.88–0.98) and AD (knee height: HR per 1-inch increase 0.78; 95% CI 0.65–0.93; arm span: HR per 1-inch increase 0.90; 95% CI 0.85–0.96). Women in the lowest quartile of arm span had 
1.5 times greater risk of dementia (HR 1.45; 95% CI 1.03–2.05) and AD (HR 1.70; 95% CI 1.10–2.62) than other women. Among men, only arm span was associated with lower risks of dementia (HR per 1-inch increase 0.94; 95% CI 0.89–1.00) and AD (HR per 1-inch increase 0.92; 95% CI 0.84–1.00). For each gender, knee height was not associated with VaD, while arm span was associated with a nonsignificant lower risk of VaD.
Conclusions: Our findings with knee height and arm span are consistent with previous reports and suggest early life environment may play an important role in the determination of future dementia risk.
Abbreviations: 3MSE = Modified Mini-Mental State Examination; AD = Alzheimer disease; ADDTC = Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Centers; CHS = Cardiovascular Health Study; DSM-IV = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition; MMSE = Mini-Mental State Examination; NINCDS-ADRDA = National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Diseases and Stroke–Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association; NINDS-AIREN = National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke–Association Internationale pour la Recherche et l’Enseignement en Neurosciences; VaD = vascular dementia.
T.L.H. was supported by NIH grant T32-MH14592 and NIH/NIDDK grant T32 DK75610, a grant from the Charles A. King Trust, Bank of America, Co-Trustee (Boston, MA), and by the USDA Agricultural Research Service under contract no. 53-3K06-5-10. The research reported in this article was supported by contracts N01-HC-85079 through N01-HC-85086, N01-HC-35129, and N01 HC-15103 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and grant AG15928 from the National Institute on Aging.
Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Received December 14, 2005. Accepted in final form August 14, 2007.
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