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. 2022 Dec 16:14:992532.
doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.992532. eCollection 2022.

Arrhythmia and other modifiable risk factors in incident dementia and MCI among elderly individuals with low educational levels in Taiwan

Yen-Chang Huang  1 , Chung-Hsiang Liu  2 , Yu-Chi Liao  1 , Hsin-Te Chang  1   3   4 , Pai-Yi Chiu  5   6
Affiliations

Arrhythmia and other modifiable risk factors in incident dementia and MCI among elderly individuals with low educational levels in Taiwan

Yen-Chang Huang et al. Front Aging Neurosci. .

Abstract

Introduction: There is increasing evidence that arrhythmia is a risk factor for dementia; however, it appears that arrhythmia affects the cognitive function of individuals differentially across age groups, races, and educational levels. Demographic differences including educational level have also been found to moderate the effects of modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline.

Methods: This study recruited 1,361 individuals including a group of cognitively unimpaired (CU) individuals, a group of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and a group of patients with dementia with low education levels. The participants were evaluated in terms of modifiable risk factors for dementia, including arrhythmia and neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Results: Cox proportional hazard regression models revealed that among older MCI patients (>75 years), those with arrhythmia faced an elevated risk of dementia. Among younger MCI patients, those taking anti-hypertensive drugs faced a relatively low risk of dementia. Among younger MCI patients, male sex and higher educational level were associated with an elevated risk of dementia. Among CU individuals, those with coronary heart disease and taking anti-lipid compounds faced an elevated risk of MCI and those with symptoms of depression faced an elevated risk of dementia.

Discussion: The risk and protective factors mentioned above could potentially be used as markers in predicting the onset of dementia in clinical settings, especially for individuals with low educational levels.

Keywords: anti-lipid compounds; arrhythmia; coronary heart disease; dementia; depression; mild cognitive impairment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Selection process of study participants. HAICDDS, History-Based Artificial Intelligent Clinical Dementia Diagnostic System. MCI, mild cognitive impairment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Risk of incident MCI among CU individuals. CASI, Cognitive Assessment Screening Instrument; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination, CI, confidence interval; HR, hazard ratio. Male sex was coded as 1 and female as 0 in the model. Bold font indicates statistically significant.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Risk of incident dementia among CU individuals. Note and abbreviations as those used in Figure 2.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Risk of incident dementia among individuals with MCI under 75 years of age. Note and abbreviations as those used in Figure 2.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Risk of incident dementia among individuals with MCI over 75 years of age. Note and abbreviations as those used in Figure 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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