The association between an inflammatory diet and global cognitive function and incident dementia in older women: The Women's Health Initiative Memory Study

Kathleen M Hayden; Daniel P Beavers; Susan E Steck; James R Hebert; Fred K Tabung; Nitin Shivappa; Ramon Casanova; JoAnn E Manson; Claudia B Padula; Elena Salmoirago-Blotcher; Linda G Snetselaar; Oleg Zaslavsky; Stephen R Rapp

doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2017.04.004

The association between an inflammatory diet and global cognitive function and incident dementia in older women: The Women's Health Initiative Memory Study

Alzheimers Dement. 2017 Nov;13(11):1187-1196. doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2017.04.004. Epub 2017 May 19.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA. Electronic address: khayden@wakehealth.edu.
² Department of Biostatistical Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
³ Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
⁴ Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA; Connecting health Innovations, LLC, Columbia, SC, USA.
⁵ Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
⁸ Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital; Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology, Warren Alpert School of Medicine and School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
⁹ Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa College of Public Health, Iowa City, IA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Behavioral Nursing and Health Informatics, University of Washington School of Nursing, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.

Abstract

Introduction: The Mediterranean and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diets have been associated with lower dementia risk. We evaluated dietary inflammatory potential in relation to mild cognitive impairment (MCI)/dementia risk.

Methods: Baseline food frequency questionnaires from n = 7085 women (aged 65-79 years) were used to calculate Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) scores that were categorized into four groups. Cognitive function was evaluated annually, and MCI and all-cause dementia cases were adjudicated centrally. Mixed effect models evaluated cognitive decline on over time; Cox models evaluated the risk of MCI or dementia across DII groups.

Results: Over an average of 9.7 years, there were 1081 incident cases of cognitive impairment. Higher DII scores were associated with greater cognitive decline and earlier onset of cognitive impairment. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) comparing lower (anti-inflammatory; group 1 referent) DII scores to the higher scores were group 2-HR: 1.01 (0.86-1.20); group 3-HR: 0.99 (0.82-1.18); and group 4-HR: 1.27 (1.06-1.52).

Conclusions: Diets with the highest pro-inflammatory potential were associated with higher risk of MCI or dementia.

Keywords: Cognitive decline; Dementia; Diet; Inflammation; Mild cognitive impairment; Survival analysis.

MeSH terms

Aged
Cognitive Dysfunction / diagnosis
Cognitive Dysfunction / epidemiology*
Cognitive Dysfunction / etiology*
Dementia / epidemiology*
Dementia / etiology*
Diet / adverse effects*
Diet Surveys
Female
Humans
Incidence
Inflammation / epidemiology*
Inflammation / etiology
Proportional Hazards Models
Surveys and Questionnaires
Women's Health*

Abstract

MeSH terms

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