Higher inflammation levels in young adults are associated with lower performance in cognitive skills testing in midlife, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco.
The study found that young adults with higher levels of inflammation, often linked to factors like obesity, physical inactivity, chronic illness, stress, and smoking, may experience reduced cognitive function in their middle years.
Previous research has connected higher inflammation in older adults with dementia, but this study is among the first to explore the impact of inflammation in early adulthood on cognitive abilities in midlife.
Amber Bahorik, Ph.D., from the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Weill Institute for Neurosciences, explained, “We know from long-term studies that brain changes leading to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias may take decades to develop.
We wanted to see if health and lifestyle habits in early adulthood may play a part in cognitive skills in midlife, which in turn may influence the likelihood of dementia in later life.”
Published in Neurology on July 3, the study found a clear link between inflammation levels and cognitive performance.
Only 10% of participants with low inflammation performed poorly on tests of processing speed and memory, compared to 21% and 19%, respectively, of those with moderate or higher levels of inflammation.
Even after adjusting for factors like age, physical activity, and total cholesterol, differences in processing speed remained. Researchers also noted variations in executive functioning, including working memory, problem-solving, and impulse control.
The study followed 2,364 adults from the CARDIA study, which aims to identify factors in young adulthood that lead to cardiovascular disease two to three decades later.
Participants, aged 18 to 30 at the start, were tested four times over 18 years for the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP).
Cognitive tests were administered five years after their last CRP measurement, by which time most participants were in their forties and fifties.
The participant group was diverse: about half were female, nearly half were Black, and the remainder were white. Some 45% had lower stable inflammation, 16% had moderate or increasing inflammation, and 39% had higher levels of inflammation.
The researchers found that higher inflammation levels were associated with physical inactivity, higher body mass index (BMI), and smoking.
Senior author Kristine Yaffe, MD, a professor at UCSF, stated, “Inflammation plays a significant role in cognitive aging and may begin in early adulthood. There is likely a direct and indirect effect of inflammation on cognition.”
Yaffe, who was part of the first team to determine that 30% of dementia risk is preventable, has recently researched the link between fragmented sleep in midlife and lower cognition, as well as the effects of personalized health and lifestyle changes in preventing memory loss in higher-risk older adults.
“There are ways to reduce inflammation, such as by increasing physical activity and quitting smoking, that might be promising paths for prevention,” Yaffe added.
In summary, this study highlights the importance of managing inflammation from a young age to maintain cognitive health in later years.
Simple lifestyle changes like staying active and avoiding smoking can significantly impact one’s cognitive abilities and reduce the risk of dementia.
If you care about health, please read studies that vitamin D can help reduce inflammation, and vitamin K could lower your heart disease risk by a third.
For more health information, please see recent studies about new way to halt excessive inflammation, and results showing foods that could cause inflammation.
The research findings can be found in Neurology.
Copyright © 2024 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
