TY - JOUR

T1 - Triglycerides are negatively correlated with cognitive function in nondemented aging adults

AU - Parthasarathy, Vishnu

AU - Frazier, Darvis T

AU - Bettcher, Brianne M

AU - Jastrzab, Laura

AU - Chao, Linda

AU - Reed, Bruce

AU - Mungas, Dan

AU - Weiner, Michael

AU - DeCarli, Charles

AU - Chui, Helena

AU - Kramer, Joel H

N1 - (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

PY - 2017/9

Y1 - 2017/9

N2 - OBJECTIVE: Vascular risk factors like hyperlipidemia may adversely affect brain function. We hypothesized that increased serum triglycerides are associated with decreased executive function and memory in nondemented elderly subjects. We also researched possible vascular mediators and white matter microstructure as assessed with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).DESIGN/METHOD: Participants were 251 nondemented elderly adults (54% male) with a mean age of 78 (SD = 6.4; range: 62-94) years and a mean education of 15.6 (SD = 2.9; range: 8-23) years. Fasting blood samples were used to detect serum triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels along with ApoE4 status. DTI was used to determine whole brain fractional anisotropy (FA). Composite executive and memory scores were derived from item response theory. Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores provided informant-based measures of daily functioning.RESULTS: Triglyceride levels were inversely correlated with executive function, but there was no relationship with memory. Controlling for age, gender, and education did not affect this correlation. This relationship persisted after controlling for vascular risk factors like LDL, total cholesterol, CDR and ApoE4 status. Lastly, adding whole-brain FA to the model did not affect the correlation between triglycerides and executive function.CONCLUSION: Triglyceride levels are inversely correlated with executive function in nondemented elderly adults after controlling for age, education, gender, total cholesterol, LDL, ApoE4 status, CDR, and white-matter microstructure. The fact that the effect of triglycerides on cognition was not clearly mediated by vascular risks or cerebrovascular injury raises questions about widely held assumptions of how triglycerides might impact cognition function. (PsycINFO Database Record

AB - OBJECTIVE: Vascular risk factors like hyperlipidemia may adversely affect brain function. We hypothesized that increased serum triglycerides are associated with decreased executive function and memory in nondemented elderly subjects. We also researched possible vascular mediators and white matter microstructure as assessed with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).DESIGN/METHOD: Participants were 251 nondemented elderly adults (54% male) with a mean age of 78 (SD = 6.4; range: 62-94) years and a mean education of 15.6 (SD = 2.9; range: 8-23) years. Fasting blood samples were used to detect serum triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels along with ApoE4 status. DTI was used to determine whole brain fractional anisotropy (FA). Composite executive and memory scores were derived from item response theory. Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores provided informant-based measures of daily functioning.RESULTS: Triglyceride levels were inversely correlated with executive function, but there was no relationship with memory. Controlling for age, gender, and education did not affect this correlation. This relationship persisted after controlling for vascular risk factors like LDL, total cholesterol, CDR and ApoE4 status. Lastly, adding whole-brain FA to the model did not affect the correlation between triglycerides and executive function.CONCLUSION: Triglyceride levels are inversely correlated with executive function in nondemented elderly adults after controlling for age, education, gender, total cholesterol, LDL, ApoE4 status, CDR, and white-matter microstructure. The fact that the effect of triglycerides on cognition was not clearly mediated by vascular risks or cerebrovascular injury raises questions about widely held assumptions of how triglycerides might impact cognition function. (PsycINFO Database Record

KW - Aged

KW - Aged, 80 and over

KW - Aging/blood

KW - Cognitive Aging/physiology

KW - Diffusion Tensor Imaging

KW - Executive Function/physiology

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Triglycerides/blood

KW - White Matter/diagnostic imaging

U2 - 10.1037/neu0000335

DO - 10.1037/neu0000335

M3 - Article

C2 - 28604016

VL - 31

SP - 682

EP - 688

JO - Neuropsychology

JF - Neuropsychology

SN - 0894-4105

IS - 6

ER -