Summary: A new study reports on the link between a teen’s BMI and their cognitive function in midlife.
Source: Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Study of Israeli adolescents shows impact of socioeconomic position on subsequent cognitive impairment.
Overweight and obesity in adolescents have increased substantially in recent decades, and today affect a third of the adolescent population in some developed countries. While the dangers posed by high adult BMI on cognitive function in later life have been documented, the association of adolescent BMI with cognitive function in midlife has not yet been reported. (BMI, or Body Mass Index, is a calculation of a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters.)
To shed light on this issue, scientists at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine set out to determine the association between cumulative life course burden of high-ranked body mass index (BMI), and cognitive function in midlife. The research, which will appear in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 55(3), was led by Prof. Jeremy Kark from the Braun School, in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Faculty of Medicine, working with colleagues in Israel and the United States.
The researchers used weight and height data from 507 individuals tracked from over 33 years starting at age 17. The participants completed a computerized cognitive assessment at ages 48-52, and their socioeconomic position was assessed by multiple methods. Using mixed models the researchers calculated the life-course burden of BMI from age 17 to midlife, and used multiple regression to assess associations of BMI and height with global cognition and its component domains.
“In this population-based study of a Jerusalem cohort, followed longitudinally from adolescence for over 33 years, we found that higher BMI in late adolescence and the long-term cumulative burden of BMI predicted poorer cognitive function later in life. Importantly, this study shows that an impact of obesity on cognitive function in midlife may already begin in adolescence, independently of changes in BMI over the adult life course,” said the paper’s senior author, Prof. Jeremy Kark of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine.
“Our results also show that taller stature was associated with better global cognitive function, independent of childhood and adult socioeconomic position, and that height increase in late adolescence, reecting late growth, conferred a protective effect, but among women only,” added Irit Cohen-Manheim, doctoral candidate at the Braun School and lead author.
The researchers point out that while socioeconomic position may have a particularly important role in the trajectory of a person’s lifetime cognitive function, it has rarely been adequately taken into account: “To the best of our knowledge, the association between BMI and cognition as a function of childhood and adult socioeconomic position has not been previously reported. Childhood household socioeconomic position appears to strongly modify the association between adolescent BMI and poorer cognition in midlife, the inverse association being restricted to low childhood socioeconomic position,” said Prof. Kark.
“Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that childhood living conditions, as reflected also by height, infuence cognitive function later in life; however, our study is unique in showing that an adverse association of higher BMI with cognitive function appears to begin in adolescence and that it appears to be restricted to adults with lower childhood socioeconomic position,” said Prof. Kark.
“Evidence for the association between impaired cognitive function in midlife and subsequent dementia supports the clinical relevance of our results. Findings of the relation of BMI in adolescence with poorer midlife cognitive status, particularly in light of the ongoing epidemic of childhood obesity, require con?rmation,” said Irit Cohen-Manheim.
Scientists involved in this research are affiliated with the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Clinical Research, NeuroTrax Corporation, Modiin, Israel; Centre for Medical Decision Making, Ono Academic College, Kiryat Ono, Israel; Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA; Biostatistics Unit, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.
Funding: The research was supported by the Chief Scientist of the Israel Ministry of Health, Israel Science Foundation, US-Israel Binational Science Foundation.
Source: Dov Smith – Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Abstract for “Body Mass Index, Height and Socioeconomic Position in Adolescence, Their Trajectories into Adulthood, and Cognitive Function in Midlife” by Cohen-Manheim, Irit; Doniger, Glen M.; Sinnreich, Ronit; Simon, Ely S.; Murad, Havi; Pinchas-Mizrachi, Ronit; and Kark, Jeremy D. in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Published online December 6 2016 doi:10.3233/JAD-160843
[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “Higher BMI in Adolescence May Affect Cognitive Function in Midlife.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 9 December 2016.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/teen-bmi-cognitive-function-5718/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (2016, December 9). Higher BMI in Adolescence May Affect Cognitive Function in Midlife. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved December 9, 2016 from https://neurosciencenews.com/teen-bmi-cognitive-function-5718/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “Higher BMI in Adolescence May Affect Cognitive Function in Midlife.” https://neurosciencenews.com/teen-bmi-cognitive-function-5718/ (accessed December 9, 2016).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]
Abstract
Body Mass Index, Height and Socioeconomic Position in Adolescence, Their Trajectories into Adulthood, and Cognitive Function in Midlife
Background: Whether life course anthropometric indices relate to cognitive function in midlife remains insufficiently explored. Rarely was socioeconomic position (SEP) adequately accounted for. Objective: To examine the association of the cumulative life course burden of high-ranked body mass index (BMI), its trajectory, and stature with cognitive function in midlife.
Methods: Weight and height were measured from age 17 across a 33-year follow-up. 507 individuals completed a NeuroTrax computerized cognitive assessment at ages 48–52. Life course SEP was assessed by multiple methods. Using mixed models we calculated the area under the curve (AUC), representing both the life-course burden of BMI (total AUC) and trends in BMI (incremental AUC) from age 17 to midlife. The associations of BMI and height with global cognition and its five component domains were assessed by multiple regression.
Results: Higher BMI in late adolescence and total AUC over the life course were associated with poorer global cognition (Standardized beta (Beta) = –0.111, p = 0.005 and Beta = –0.105, p = 0.018, respectively), adjusted for childhood and adulthood SEP, and demographic characteristics. The associations with higher adolescent and midlife BMI were both restricted to those with low childhood SEP (p < 0.05 for interaction). Short adolescent stature was related to poorer cognition (Beta = 0.115, p = 0.040), whereas late final growth in women was associated with better cognition (Beta = 0.213, p = 0.007).
Conclusion: An adverse association of higher BMI with cognitive function began in adolescence and was restricted to low childhood SEP. Taller stature in both sexes and late growth in women were associated with better midlife cognitive performance.
“Body Mass Index, Height and Socioeconomic Position in Adolescence, Their Trajectories into Adulthood, and Cognitive Function in Midlife” by Cohen-Manheim, Irit; Doniger, Glen M.; Sinnreich, Ronit; Simon, Ely S.; Murad, Havi; Pinchas-Mizrachi, Ronit; and Kark, Jeremy D. in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Published online December 6 2016 doi:10.3233/JAD-160843
