Association of C-Reactive Protein With Cognitive Impairment

BACKGROUND: High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) is a biomarker of cardiovascular risk that is suggested to be a biomarker for cognitive impairment. OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between hsCRP and cognitive impairment. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of a population-based community aging study. SETTING: Northern Manhattan, New York, New York. OTHER PARTICIPANTS: One thousand three hundred thirty-one participants from a longitudinal study of aging without dementia and with available hsCRP and neuropsychological testing data at baseline. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Four cognitive scores (memory, visuospatial, executive, and language impairment) derived from a neuropsychological battery. Cognitive impairment was defined by scores below 1.5 SDs of demographically corrected means. RESULTS: Participants in the highest hsCRP tertile had higher adjusted odds of impaired memory (odds ratio OR, 1.5; 95% confidence interval CI, 1.0-2.1; P = .03) than participants in the lowest tertile. Subjects in the highest hsCRP tertile also had greater odds of visuospatial impairment (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.0-2.3; P = .03). Higher hsCRP was not associated with executive or language impairment. Persons with at least 1 APOE epsilon4 allele and hsCRP in the highest tertile had the greatest odds of impaired memory (OR, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.6-4.4). CONCLUSIONS: High hsCRP may be a marker of memory and visuospatial impairment in the elderly. The role of APOE epsilon4 requires further exploration.