Individuals who were obese at midlife had an increased risk for dementia later in life compared to individuals of normal weight, according to an article in the October issue of Archives of Neurology.
Obesity is on the rise all over the world and is related to vascular diseases, which may be linked to dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to background information in the article. However, the link between obesity and dementia risk has not been extensively studied and long-term follow-up studies performed thus far have yielded somewhat conflicting results.
Miia Kivipelto, M.D., Ph.D., from the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues re-examined participants in the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Dementia (CAIDE) study to investigate the relationship between midlife body mass index (BMI; weight in kilograms divided by square of height in meters) and a group of vascular risk factors, and subsequent dementia and AD. Participants in the CAIDE study were derived from random, population- based samples previously studied in a survey carried out in 1972, 1977, 1982, or 1987. After an average follow-up of 21 years, 1,449 individuals aged 65 to 79 years participated in the 1998 reexamination.