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P1‐314: The metabolic syndrome is associated with the neuropsychological test performance of an elderly birth cohort: Results from the ILSE study
Author(s) -
Mall Martina,
Sattler Christine,
Toro Pablo,
Schönknecht Peter,
Schröder Johannes
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2012.05.2000
Subject(s) - metabolic syndrome , cohort , dementia , neuropsychological test , medicine , population , neuropsychology , verbal fluency test , prospective cohort study , mini–mental state examination , depression (economics) , psychology , psychiatry , cognition , disease , obesity , environmental health , economics , macroeconomics
Background: Previous studies suggest that the metabolic syndrome is associated with the onset and severity of neurodegenerative processes. The objective of this study was to determine the association of the metabolic syndrome and cognitive decline within a prospective population-based cohort in Germany. Methods: Participants of the ILSE -study (1930-1932; 12-year follow-up) were examined at three examination waves (t1: 1993/ 94; t2: 1997/98; t3: 2005/07). In total 381 subjects of the original cohort (n 1⁄4 500) were re-examined at t3. Subjects with a diagnosis of vascular dementia or a psychiatric disorder (e. g. depression) were excluded from the analyses. Subjects were carefully screened for physical and mental health; metabolic syndrome was defined by the NCEPATP III (modified 2005) criteria. Neuropsychological examinations were performed at all examination waves. The following subtests were included in the present study: Digitsymbol-test, d2 (attention / concentration), similarities subtest, spatial orientation, word fluency, immediate word list recall, delayed word list recognition, and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Gender, education, and social status were considered as potential confounders. Results: The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome increased from 25.5% at t1 to 33.1 % at t2. Subjects with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (N1⁄4 21) or mild cognitive impairment (N1⁄4 79) did not differ from controls (N1⁄4 125) concerning the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (c(2)1⁄4 0.14; P1⁄4 .933). Repeated multivariate analyses of variance showed a significant main effect of the metabolic syndromewith respect to the following subtests: digit-symbol-test (F1⁄4 6.7;P<.05), word fluency (F1⁄4 6.8;P<.005), d2 (attention / concentration) (F 1⁄4 4.1; P <.05) andMMSE (F1⁄4 4.3; P <0.05). Conclusions: The metabolic syndrome was associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline, especially regarding executive functions in German older adults. With respect to the increasing longevity of populations worldwide, prevention of dementia has become a major public health challenge. By treating potential risk factors for cognitive decline like the metabolic syndrome, early prevention of dementia might be significantly supported.