C-reactive protein, depressive symptoms, and risk of diabetes: Results from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)

ABSTRACTInflammation has been implicated in many diseases in later life of older Britons. Moreover, health outcomes in later life have also been markedly affected by childhood poverty. But no study has established whether childhood poverty has the effect of upregulating inflammation throughout later life. Using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2004 – 2013) life history information and longitudinal observations of C-reactive protein and fibrinogen as inflammatory biomarkers, we studied the association between childhood condition and trajectories of inflammation for people aged 50 to 97 years. Retrospective childhood poverty some four to eight decades in the past was treated as a latent construct; attrition in longitudinal observations is addressed using inverse proportional to attrition weighting. The analytis revealed significantly higher levels of both biomarkers throughout later life among those with a poor childhood, though there is no evidence of a steeper inflammation trajectory among them. We discussed possible epigenetic changes underlying this strong and long arm of childhood condition. The results suggest that eliminating child poverty can prove to be a wise investment with the prospect of a lifelong reward.

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High-sensitivity C-reactive protein and cognitive decline: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291717003130 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 48 (8) ◽

pp. 1381-1389 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Fanfan Zheng ◽

Wuxiang Xie

Keyword(s):

Executive Function ◽

Longitudinal Study ◽

Cognitive Decline ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

C Reactive Protein ◽

Reactive Protein ◽

The Mean ◽

Hs Crp ◽

Adjusted Rate ◽

English Longitudinal Study

AbstractBackgroundHigh-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) has been suggested to be involved in the process of cognitive decline. However, the results from previous studies exploring the relationship between hs-CRP concentration and cognitive decline are inconsistent.MethodWe employed data from wave 2 (2004–2005) to wave 7 (2014–2015) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Cognitive function was assessed at baseline (wave 2) and reassessed biennially at waves 3–7.ResultsA total of 5257 participants (54.9% women, mean age 65.4 ± 9.4 years) with baseline hs-CRP levels ranged from 0.2 to 210.0 mg/L (median: 2.0 mg/L, interquartile range: 0.9–4.1 mg/L) were studied. The mean follow-up duration was 8.1 ± 2.8 years, and the mean number of cognitive assessment was 4.9 ± 1.5. Linear mixed models show that a one-unit increment in natural log-transformed hs-CRP was associated with faster declines in global cognitive scores [−0.048 points/year, 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.072 to −0.023], memory scores (−0.022 points/year, 95% CI −0.031 to −0.013), and executive function scores (−0.025 points/year, 95% CI −0.043 to −0.006), after multivariable adjustment. Compared with the lowest quartile of hs-CRP, the multivariable-adjusted rate of global cognitive decline associated with the second, third, and highest quartile was faster by −0.043 points/year (95% CI −0.116 to 0.029), −0.090 points/year (95% CI −0.166 to −0.015), −0.145 (95% CI −0.221 to −0.069), respectively (pfor trend <0.001). Similarly, memory and executive function also declined faster with increasing quartiles of hs-CRP.ConclusionsA significant association between hs-CRP concentration and long-term cognitive decline was observed in this study. Hs-CRP might serve as a biomarker for cognitive decline.

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