TY - JOUR
T1 - Modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer disease and subjective memory impairment across age groups
AU - Chen, Stephen T.
AU - Siddarth, Prabha
AU - Ercoli, Linda M.
AU - Merrill, David A.
AU - Torres-Gil, Fernando
AU - Small, Gary W.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dan Witters and Mark Bartells of the Gallup Organization, Jim Pope of Healthways Corporation, and Beverly Cosand for their assistance in study design, execution, and analysis. We also thank the Gallup Organization and Healthways Corporation for access to the survey results. This work was supported by the Gallup Organization, the Parlow-Solomon Professorship on Aging, the Ahmanson Foundation, the Fran and Ray Stark Foundation Fund for Alzheimer's Disease Research, the Semel Institute, and the UCLA Longevity Center. Dr. Siddarth had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
PY - 2014/6/4
Y1 - 2014/6/4
N2 - Introduction: Previous research has identified modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in older adults. Research is limited on the potential link between these risk factors and subjective memory impairment (SMI), which may precede AD and other dementias. Examination of these potential relationships may help identify those at risk for AD at a stage when interventions may delay or prevent further memory problems. The objective of this study was to determine whether risk factors for AD are associated with SMI among different age groups. Method: Trained interviewers conducted daily telephone surveys (Gallup-Healthways) of a representative community sample of 18,614 U.S. respondents, including 4,425 younger (age 18 to 39 years), 6,365 middle-aged (40 to 59 years), and 7,824 older (60 to 99 years) adults. The surveyors collected data on demographics, lifestyles, and medical information. Less education, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, less exercise, obesity and depression, and interactions among them, were examined for associations with SMI. Weighted logistic regressions and chi-square tests were used to calculate odds ratios and confidence intervals for SMI with each risk factor and pairwise interactions across age groups. Results: Depression, less education, less exercise, and hypertension were significantly associated with SMI in all three age groups. Several interactions between risk factors were significant in younger and middle-aged adults and influenced their associations with SMI. Frequency of SMI increased with age and number of risk factors. Odds of having SMI increased significantly with just having one risk factor. Conclusions: These results indicate that modifiable risk factors for AD are also associated with SMI, suggesting that these relationships occur in a broad range of ages and may be targeted to mitigate further memory problems. Whether modifying these risk factors reduces SMI and the eventual incidence of AD and other dementias later in life remains to be determined.
AB - Introduction: Previous research has identified modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in older adults. Research is limited on the potential link between these risk factors and subjective memory impairment (SMI), which may precede AD and other dementias. Examination of these potential relationships may help identify those at risk for AD at a stage when interventions may delay or prevent further memory problems. The objective of this study was to determine whether risk factors for AD are associated with SMI among different age groups. Method: Trained interviewers conducted daily telephone surveys (Gallup-Healthways) of a representative community sample of 18,614 U.S. respondents, including 4,425 younger (age 18 to 39 years), 6,365 middle-aged (40 to 59 years), and 7,824 older (60 to 99 years) adults. The surveyors collected data on demographics, lifestyles, and medical information. Less education, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, less exercise, obesity and depression, and interactions among them, were examined for associations with SMI. Weighted logistic regressions and chi-square tests were used to calculate odds ratios and confidence intervals for SMI with each risk factor and pairwise interactions across age groups. Results: Depression, less education, less exercise, and hypertension were significantly associated with SMI in all three age groups. Several interactions between risk factors were significant in younger and middle-aged adults and influenced their associations with SMI. Frequency of SMI increased with age and number of risk factors. Odds of having SMI increased significantly with just having one risk factor. Conclusions: These results indicate that modifiable risk factors for AD are also associated with SMI, suggesting that these relationships occur in a broad range of ages and may be targeted to mitigate further memory problems. Whether modifying these risk factors reduces SMI and the eventual incidence of AD and other dementias later in life remains to be determined.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84902436225
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0098630
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0098630
M3 - Article
C2 - 24896243
AN - SCOPUS:84902436225
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 9
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 6
M1 - e98630
ER -