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Carotid intima-media thickness and cognitive function in a middle-aged and older adult community: a cross-sectional study

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Abstract

The relationship between atherosclerosis and cognitive function is less well studied in Chinese populations. In addition, the results among middle-aged adults have been mixed. We aimed to investigate the association of atherosclerosis measured by carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and cognitive function in middle-aged and older adults from a Chinese community. Participants in the Asymptomatic Polyvascular Abnormalities in Community study (APAC) who had completed the CIMT detection and cognitive function measurements in 2012/2013 were included. Cognitive function was measured using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to analyze the association between CIMT and MMSE. Then, a stratified analysis was performed separately in middle-aged and older adults. A total of 3227 participants were included in this study (mean age 57.9 years, range 43–93 years); 56.6 % of them were men, 66.0 % were middle-aged adults. After adjusting for potential confounders, larger CIMT was associated with lower MMSE scores, with a 0.75-point decrease in MMSE score for every 1-mm increase in CIMT (β = − 0.75, P = 0.0020). The association remained statistically significant in middle-aged adults (β = − 0.57, P = 0.0390), and was stronger in older adults and adults with low education levels. There is a significant association between CIMT and cognitive function among middle-aged and older adults sampled from a Chinese population. This association was stronger in older adults and adults with low education levels.

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Acknowledgments

Most importantly, we thank the participants and their relatives in the study and the members of the survey teams in the 11 regional hospitals of the Kailuan Medical Group, as well as the project development and management teams in the Beijing Tiantan Hospital and the Kailuan Group.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, 100050, Beijing, China

      Anxin Wang, Ruixuan Jiang & Xingquan Zhao

    2. China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, China

      Anxin Wang, Ruixuan Jiang & Xingquan Zhao

    3. Center of Stroke, Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing, China

      Anxin Wang, Ruixuan Jiang & Xingquan Zhao

    4. Beijing Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine for Cerebrovascular Disease, Beijing, China

      Anxin Wang, Ruixuan Jiang & Xingquan Zhao

    5. Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, 100069, Beijing, China

      Anxin Wang, Yanxia Luo & Xiuhua Guo

    6. Department of Neurology, Tangshan Gongren Hospital, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, China

      Guojuan Chen & Yibin Cao

    7. Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Academy of Public Health and Management, Weifang Medical University, Weifang, China

      Zhaoping Su

    8. Department of Cardiology, Tangshan People’s Hospital, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, China

      Xiaoxue Liu

    9. Department of Neurology, Kailuan Hospital, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, China

      Xiaodong Yuan

    10. Department of Cardiology, Kailuan Hospital, North China University of Science and Technology, 063000, Tangshan, China

      Shuohua Chen & Shouling Wu

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    1. Anxin Wang
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    Corresponding authors

    Correspondence to Xiuhua Guo, Shouling Wu or Xingquan Zhao.

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    Ethical standard

    The study was approved by the Ethics Committees of the Kailuan General Hospital and Beijing Tiantan Hospital in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

    Sources of funding

    This research was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81202279), and by a grant from advanced health care professional development project of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau (Grant No. 2009-3-32). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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    A. Wang and G. Chen contributed to this work equally.

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    Wang, A., Chen, G., Su, Z. et al. Carotid intima-media thickness and cognitive function in a middle-aged and older adult community: a cross-sectional study. J Neurol 263, 2097–2104 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-016-8234-9

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-016-8234-9

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