The magnitude and direction of the relationship between risk factor and cognition depends on age: a pooled analysis of 5 community-based studies
Why the study?
Mixed evidence regarding cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive impairment may be due to confounding by age across studies.
Does age modify the association between cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive function in community-dwelling adults?
Population
30,967 persons aged 42-96 years from five prospective cohorts
Comparison
Cardiovascular risk factors across 1-year age increments
Design
Pooled and harmonized analysis of individual-level data from five prospective cohorts
Authors
Discussion
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Member takes
Implication
Age may modify CVRF-cognition associations in observational data; leaves open whether risk-factor control preserves cognition across the lifespan.
Structured PICO
Does age modify the association between cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive function in community-dwelling adults?
P
Population
30,967 persons, age range 42-96 years, from five community-based prospective cohorts
I
Intervention
Cardiovascular risk factors (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, fasting glucose, and body mass index)
O
Outcome
Cognitive outcome measured by Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST)surrogate
Age significantly modifies the direction and strength of the association between cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive function, potentially explaining the mixed evidence in previous literature.
Cite This Study
Meirelles et al. (2024) studied this question.