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Midlife adiposity predicts earlier onset of Alzheimer’s dementia, neuropathology and presymptomatic cerebral amyloid accumulation

Molecular Psychiatry volume 21, pages 910–915 (2016)Cite this article

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A Correction to this article was published on 10 August 2023

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Abstract

Understanding how midlife risk factors influence age at onset (AAO) of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) may provide clues to delay disease expression. Although midlife adiposity predicts increased incidence of AD, it is unclear whether it affects AAO and severity of Alzheimer’s neuropathology. Using a prospective population-based cohort, Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), this study aims to examine the relationships between midlife body mass index (BMI) and (1) AAO of AD (2) severity of Alzheimer’s neuropathology and (3) fibrillar brain amyloid deposition during aging. We analyzed data on 1394 cognitively normal individuals at baseline (8643 visits; average follow-up interval 13.9 years), among whom 142 participants developed incident AD. In two subsamples of BLSA, 191 participants underwent autopsy and neuropathological assessment, and 75 non-demented individuals underwent brain amyloid imaging. Midlife adiposity was derived from BMI data at 50 years of age. We find that each unit increase in midlife BMI predicts earlier onset of AD by 6.7 months (P=0.013). Higher midlife BMI was associated with greater Braak neurofibrillary but not CERAD (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease) neuritic plaque scores at autopsy overall. Associations between midlife BMI and brain amyloid burden approached statistical significance. Thus, higher midlife BMI was also associated with greater fibrillar amyloid measured by global mean cortical distribution volume ratio (P=0.075) and within the precuneus (left, P=0.061; right, P=0.079). In conclusion, midlife overweight predicts earlier onset of AD and greater burden of Alzheimer’s neuropathology. A healthy BMI at midlife may delay the onset of AD.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging participants and neuroimaging staff for their dedication to these studies and the staff of the Johns Hopkins University PET facility for their assistance. This work was supported in part by research and development contract HHSN-260-2004-00012C and the Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Y-F Chuang and Y An: The first two authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical and Translational Neuroscience Unit, Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Baltimore, MD, USA

    Y-F Chuang & M Thambisetty

  2. Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Y-F Chuang

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan

    Y-F Chuang

  4. Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Y An, M Bilgel, L Ferrucci & S M Resnick

  5. Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    M Bilgel

  6. Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    D F Wong

  7. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    D F Wong

  8. Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    J C Troncoso

  9. Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    R J O'Brien

  10. Centre for Studies on Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease, Douglas Mental Health University Institute Research Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada

    J C Breitner

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Correspondence to M Thambisetty.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Molecular Psychiatry website

The original online version of this article was revised: L. Ferruci should be L. Ferrucci.

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Chuang, YF., An, Y., Bilgel, M. et al. Midlife adiposity predicts earlier onset of Alzheimer’s dementia, neuropathology and presymptomatic cerebral amyloid accumulation. Mol Psychiatry 21, 910–915 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2015.129

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