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Plasma Antioxidants and Cognitive Performance in Middle‐Aged and Older Adults: Results of the Austrian Stroke Prevention Study
Author(s) -
Schmidt R.,
Hayn M.,
Reinhart B.,
Roob G.,
Schmidt H.,
Schumacher M.,
Watzinger N.,
Launer L. J.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1998.tb06008.x
Subject(s) - medicine , quartile , stroke (engine) , dementia , cohort , gerontology , confidence interval , disease , mechanical engineering , engineering
OBJECTIVES: To study the association between cognitive status and plasma concentrations of various antioxidants in middle‐aged and older individuals without neuropsychiatric disease. DESIGN: Evaluation of cross‐sectional data from a cohort study. SETTING: The Austrian Stroke Prevention Study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1769 subjects aged 50 to 75 years, with no history or signs of neuropsychiatric disease, selected randomly from the community register. MEASUREMENTS: The score on the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS) was dichotomized according to age‐and education‐specific lowest quartile cut‐off points. Reversedphase high performance liquid chromatography measurements of the plasma concentrations of lutein/zeaxanthin, cryptoxanthin, canthaxanthin, lycopene, alpha‐carotene, beta‐carotene, retinol, gamma‐tocopherol, alpha‐tocopherol, and ascorbate were measured. RESULTS: Individuals with MDRS results below the lowest quartile cut‐off point had lower levels of beta‐carotene and alpha‐tocopherol than their counterparts with test performance above this limit (0.44 ± .33 μmol/L vs 0.51 ± .48 μmo/L, P < .001; and 29.50 ± 7.98 μmol/L vs 30.93 ± 11.10 μmol/L, P < .001, respectively). Only alpha‐tocopherol remained significantly associated with cognitive functioning when logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for possible confounders including age, sex, month of blood sampling, years of education, smoking, lipid status, and major risk factors for stroke (P = .019). CONCLUSION: These observations are compatible with the view that some dietary antioxidants may protect against cognitive impairment in older people.