scholarly journals Neurology-related protein biomarkers are associated with general fluid cognitive ability and brain volume in older age

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Harris ◽  
Simon R. Cox ◽  
Steven Bell ◽  
Riccardo E. Marioni ◽  
Bram P Prins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Plasma Levels ◽  
Brain Volume ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Total Brain Volume ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Lothian Birth Cohort ◽  
Related Proteins

AbstractIdentifying the biological correlates of late life cognitive function is important if we are to ascertain biomarkers for, and develop treatments to help reduce, age-related cognitive decline. This study investigated the associations between plasma levels of 91 neurology-related proteins (Olink® Proteomics) and general fluid cognitive ability in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (LBC1936, N=798), the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 (LBC1921, N=165), and the INTERVAL BioResource, (N=4,451). In LBC1936, we also examined mediation of protein-cognitive ability associations by MRI-derived indices of brain structure. In the LBC1936, 22 of the proteins and the first principal component (PC) created from a PC analysis of the 91 proteins, were associated with general fluid cognitive ability (β between −0.11 and −0.17, p<0.0029). Total brain volume partially mediated the association between 10 of these proteins and general fluid cognitive ability. Effect sizes for the 22 proteins, although smaller, were all in the same direction as in LBC1936 in an age-matched subsample of INTERVAL. Similar effect sizes were found for the majority of these 22 proteins in the older LBC1921. The associations were not replicated in a younger subset of INTERVAL. In conclusion, we identified plasma levels of a number of neurology-related proteins that were associated with general fluid cognitive ability in later life, some of which were mediated by brain volume.

scholarly journals Fluid Intelligence Predicts Change in Depressive Symptoms in Later Life: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1984-1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Aichele ◽  
Paolo Ghisletta ◽  
Janie Corley ◽  
Alison Pattie ◽  
Adele M. Taylor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Coupling Effect ◽  
Coupling Parameter ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Standard Deviation Increase ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Lothian Birth Cohort

We examined reciprocal, time-ordered associations between age-related changes in fluid intelligence and depressive symptoms. Participants were 1,091 community-dwelling older adults from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 study who were assessed repeatedly at 3-year intervals between the ages of 70 and 79 years. On average, fluid intelligence and depressive symptoms worsened with age. There was also a dynamic-coupling effect, in which low fluid intelligence at a given age predicted increasing depressive symptoms across the following 3-year interval, whereas the converse did not hold. Model comparisons showed that this coupling parameter significantly improved overall fit and had a correspondingly moderately strong effect size, accounting on average for an accumulated 0.9 standard-deviation increase in depressive symptoms, following lower cognitive performance, across the observed age range. Adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related covariates did not significantly attenuate this association. This implies that monitoring for cognitive decrements in later life may expedite interventions to reduce related increases in depression risk.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Associations Between Loneliness and Cognitive Ability in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (8) ◽  
pp. 1376-1386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith A Okely ◽  
Ian J Deary
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Birth Cohort Study ◽  
Visuospatial Ability ◽  
Lothian Birth Cohort ◽  
Longitudinal Associations ◽  
Reciprocal Associations

Abstract Objectives Loneliness is associated with poorer cognitive function in old age; however, the direction of this association is unknown. We tested for reciprocal associations between loneliness and the cognitive ability domains of processing speed, visuospatial ability, verbal memory, and crystallized ability. Method We used three triennial waves of longitudinal data from the Lothian Birth Cohort Study 1936, and tested for cross-lagged associations between loneliness and cognitive abilities using cross-lagged panel models. Results Better processing speed, visuospatial ability, or crystallized ability at age 73, was associated with less positive changes in loneliness between ages 73 and 76; however, these associations were not replicated between ages 76 and 79. Loneliness at ages 73 and 76 did not predict subsequent changes in cognitive abilities. Discussion Our findings indicate an association between cognitive ability and loneliness, such that individuals with lower cognitive abilities at age 73 may be at a slightly higher risk of becoming lonely. However, we did not find support for the hypothesis that loneliness causes a decline in cognitive health.

scholarly journals An epigenetic predictor of death captures multi-modal measures of brain health

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert F. Hillary ◽  
Anna J. Stevenson ◽  
Simon R. Cox ◽  
Daniel L. McCartney ◽  
Sarah E. Harris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Epigenetic Mechanism ◽  
Vascular Lesions ◽  
Epigenetic Clock ◽  
General Cognitive Ability ◽  
Brain Health ◽  
Standard Deviation Increase ◽  
Brain White Matter ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Lothian Birth Cohort

AbstractIndividuals of the same chronological age exhibit disparate rates of biological ageing. Consequently, a number of methodologies have been proposed to determine biological age and primarily exploit variation at the level of DNA methylation (DNAm) – a commonly studied epigenetic mechanism. A novel epigenetic clock, termed ‘DNAm GrimAge’ has outperformed its predecessors in predicting the risk of mortality as well as a number of age-related morbidities. However, the association between DNAm GrimAge and cognitive or neuroimaging phenotypes remains unknown. We explore these associations in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (n=709, mean age 73 years). Higher DNAm GrimAge was strongly associated with all-cause mortality over twelve years of follow-up (Hazard Ratio per standard deviation increase in GrimAge: 1.81, P < 2.0 × 10-16). Higher DNAm GrimAge was associated with lower age 11 IQ (β=-0.11), lower age 73 general cognitive ability (β=-0.18), decreased brain volume (β=-0.25) and increased brain white matter hyperintensities (β=0.17). Sixty-eight of 137 health- and brain-related phenotypes tested were significantly associated with DNAm GrimAge. Adjusting all models for childhood cognitive ability attenuated to non-significance a small number of associations (12/68 associations; 6 of which were cognitive traits), but not the association with general cognitive ability (33.9% attenuation). Higher DNAm GrimAge cross-sectionally associates with lower cognitive ability and brain vascular lesions in older age, independently of early life cognitive ability. Thus, this epigenetic predictor of mortality is also associated with multiple different measures of brain health and may aid in the prediction of age-related cognitive decline.

scholarly journals Characterisation of an inflammation-related epigenetic score and its association with cognitive ability

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna J. Stevenson ◽  
Daniel L. McCartney ◽  
Robert F. Hillary ◽  
Archie Campbell ◽  
Stewart W. Morris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Chronic Inflammation ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Acute Infection ◽  
Plasma Concentrations ◽  
Generation Scotland ◽  
Lothian Birth Cohort ◽  
Serum Crp

ABSTRACTResults from large cohort studies investigating the association between inflammation and cognition have been mixed, possibly due to methodological disparities. However, a key issue in research utilising inflammatory biomarkers is their typically phasic responses. C-reactive protein (CRP) is widely used to investigate the association between chronic inflammation and cognition, but its plasma concentrations can markedly deviate in response to acute infection. Recently a large-scale epigenome-wide association study identified DNA methylation correlates of CRP. DNA methylation is thought to be relatively stable in the short term, marking it as a potentially useful signature of exposure. Here, we generate an epigenetic CRP score and investigate its trajectories with age, and associations with cognitive ability, in comparison to serum CRP in two cohorts: a longitudinal study of older adults (the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, n=889) and a large, cross-sectional cohort (Generation Scotland, n=7,028).We identified differing trajectories of serum CRP across the cohorts, with no homogeneous trends seen with age. Conversely, the epigenetic score was consistently found to increase with age, and to do so more rapidly in males compared to females. Higher levels of serum CRP were found to associate with poorer cognition in Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, but not in Generation Scotland. However, a consistent negative association was identified between cognition and the epigenetic score in both cohorts. Furthermore, the epigenetic score accounted for a greater proportion of variance in cognitive ability.Our results suggest that epigenetic signatures of acute inflammatory markers may provide an enhanced signature of chronic inflammation, allowing for more reliable stratification of individuals, and thus clearer inference of associations with incident health outcomes.

scholarly journals Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Cognitive Function Later in Life: Evidence From a National Survey in Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 214-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asri Maharani
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Childhood Poverty ◽  
Childhood Conditions

Introduction: Social and economic conditions in childhood have been found to predict cognitive ability in midlife and old age in high-income countries. This study examines the long-term effect of childhood conditions on cognition among a nationally representative sample of older adults in a low- and middle-income country. Materials and Methods: Data were obtained from the 2014 to 2015 Indonesia Family Life Survey Wave 5 (6676 respondents, aged 50 years and older). Cognitive function was assessed based on total score on a series of tests adapted from the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status. Retrospective information was collected on childhood poverty, with questions including whether respondents ever experienced hunger before age 15, whether basic facilities were available, and the number of books in the childhood home. We used linear regression to examine the association between childhood conditions and cognitive function in later life. Results: The findings show that the numbers of facilities and books available in childhood homes are substantially associated with cognition in later life after taking adulthood characteristics into account. Childhood hunger has no significant association with cognitive ability in later life. Belonging to an older birth cohort and living in a rural area were shown to have negative associations with cognitive ability in Indonesia. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that childhood poverty, birth cohort, and living in a rural area may contribute to cognitive aging in Indonesia. Policies and interventions that target childhood poverty in developing countries may also recognize the rural–urban divide in access to educational and other socioeconomic resources.

The association between cognitive ability across the lifespan and health literacy in old age: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Intelligence ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 178-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Murray ◽  
Wendy Johnson ◽  
Michael S. Wolf ◽  
Ian J. Deary
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Lothian Birth Cohort

Serum cholesterol and cognitive functions: the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janie Corley ◽  
John M. Starr ◽  
Ian J. Deary
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Serum Cholesterol ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Older Age ◽  
Lothian Birth Cohort ◽  
Statin Use

ABSTRACTBackground:We examined the associations between serum cholesterol measures, statin use, and cognitive function measured in childhood and in old age. The possibility that lifelong (trait) cognitive ability accounts for any cross-sectional associations between cholesterol and cognitive performance in older age, seen in observational studies, has not been tested to date.Methods:Participants were 1,043 men and women from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 Study, most of whom had participated in a nationwide IQ-type test in childhood (Scottish Mental Survey of 1947), and were followed up at about age 70 years. Serum cholesterol measures included total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides, and cholesterol:HDL cholesterol ratio. Cognitive outcome measures were age 70 IQ (using the same test as at age 11 years), general cognitive ability (g), processing speed, memory, and verbal ability.Results:Higher TC, higher HDL-C, and lower triglycerides were associated with higher age 70 cognitive scores in most cognitive domains. These relationships were no longer significant after covarying for childhood IQ, with the exception a markedly attenuated association between TC and processing speed, and triglycerides and age 70 IQ. In the fully adjusted model, all conventionally significant (p < 0.05) effects were removed. Childhood IQ predicted statin use in old age. Statin users had lower g, processing speed, and verbal ability scores at age 70 years after covarying for childhood IQ, but significance was lost after adjusting for TC levels.Conclusions:These results suggest that serum cholesterol and cognitive function are associated in older age via the lifelong stable trait of intelligence. Potential mechanisms, including lifestyle factors, are discussed.

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