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Central obesity and increased risk of dementia more than three decades later

From Kaiser Permanente Division of Research (R.A.W., E.P.G.), Oakland, CA; Goteberg University (D.R.G.), Goteberg, Sweden; the Department of Family Medicine (E.B.-C.), University of California, La Jolla; the Department of Epidemiology (M.N.H.), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and the Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology and Epidemiology (K.Y.), University of California, San Francisco.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Rachel A. Whitmer, Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, 2000 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612 rachel.whitmer{at}kp.org

Background: Numerous reports show that a centralized distribution of adiposity is a more dangerous risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes than total body obesity. No studies have evaluated whether the same pattern exists with dementia. The objective was to evaluate the association between midlife central obesity and risk of dementia three decades later.

Methods: A longitudinal analysis was conducted of 6,583 members of Kaiser Permanente of Northern California who had their sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD) measured in 1964 to 1973. Diagnoses of dementia were from medical records an average of 36 years later, January 1, 1994, to June 16, 2006. Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for age, sex, race, education, marital status, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, stroke, heart disease, and medical utilization were conducted.

Results: A total of 1,049 participants (15.9%) were diagnosed with dementia. Compared with those in the lowest quintile of SAD, those in the highest had nearly a threefold increased risk of dementia (hazard ratio, 2.72; 95% CI, 2.33–3.33), and this was only mildly attenuated after adding body mass index (BMI) to the model (hazard ratio, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.58–2.35). Those with high SAD (>25 cm) and normal BMI had an increased risk (hazard ratio, 1.89; 95% CI, 0.98–3.81) vs those with low SAD (<25 cm) and normal BMI (18.5–24.9 kg/m²), whereas those both obese (BMI >30 kg/m²) and with high SAD had the highest risk of dementia (HR, 3.60; 95% CI, 2.85–4.55).

Conclusions: Central obesity in midlife increases risk of dementia independent of diabetes and cardiovascular comorbidities. Fifty percent of adults have central obesity; therefore, mechanisms linking central obesity to dementia need to be unveiled.

Abbreviations: AD = Alzheimer disease; BMI = body mass index; KP = Kaiser Permanente; MHC = Multiphasic Health Checkups; SAD = sagittal abdominal diameter.

Editorial, page 1046

See also pages 1051 and 1065

e-Pub ahead of print on March 26, 2008, at www.neurology.org.

R.A.W. received support from NIH grants DK066308 and AG027504.

Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Received August 15, 2007. Accepted in final form December 14, 2007.

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