Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Aug;33(8):893-8.
doi: 10.1038/ijo.2009.104. Epub 2009 Jun 9.

Overweight in midlife and risk of dementia: a 40-year follow-up study

L B Hassing  1 , A K Dahl, V Thorvaldsson, S Berg, M Gatz, N L Pedersen, B Johansson
Affiliations

Overweight in midlife and risk of dementia: a 40-year follow-up study

L B Hassing et al. Int J Obes (Lond). 2009 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: This study examines whether overweight in midlife increases dementia risk later in life.

Methods: In 1963 body mass index was assessed in 1152 participants of The Swedish Twin Registry, at the age of 45-65 years. These participants were later screened for dementia in a prospective study with up to 40 years follow-up. A total of 312 participants were diagnosed with dementia.

Results: Logistic regression analyses adjusted for demographic factors, smoking and alcohol habits, indicated that men and women categorized as overweight in their midlife had an elevated risk of dementia (OR=1.59; 95% CI: 1.21-2.07, P=0.002), Alzheimer's disease (OR=1.71; 95% CI: 1.24-2.35, P=0.003), and vascular dementia (OR=1.55; 95% CI: 0.98-2.47, P=0.059). Further adjustments for diabetes and vascular diseases did not substantially affect the associations, except for vascular dementia (OR=1.36; 95% CI: 0.82-2.56, P=0.116), reflecting the significance of diabetes and vascular diseases in the etiology of vascular dementia. There was no significant interaction between overweight and APOE epsilon4 status, indicating that having both risk factors does not have a multiplicative effect with regard to dementia risk.

Conclusions: This study gives further support to the notion that overweight in midlife increases later risk of dementia. The risk is increased for both Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, and follows the same pattern for men and women.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Gustafson D, Rothenberg E, Blennow K, Steen B, Skoog I. An 18-year follow-up of overweight and risk of Alzheimer disease. Arch Intern Med. 2003;163(13):1524–1528. - PubMed
    1. Rosengren A, Skoog I, Gustafson D, Wilhelmsen L. Body mass index, other cardiovascular risk factors, and hospitalization for dementia. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165(3):321–326. - PubMed
    1. Whitmer RA, Gunderson EP, Barrett-Connor E, Quesenberry CP, Jr, Yaffe K. Obesity in middle age and future risk of dementia: a 27 year longitudinal population based study. BMJ. 2005;330(7504):1360. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Whitmer RA, Gustafson DR, Barrett-Connor E, Haan MN, Gunderson EP, Yaffe K. Central obesity and increased risk of dementia more than three decades later. Neurology. 2008 - PubMed
    1. Dahl A, Hassing LB, Fransson E, et al. Being overweight in midlife is associated with lower cognitive ability and steeper cognitive decline in late life. Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences. In press. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances