Association of long-term body weight variability with dementia: a prospective study

Abstract

ABSTRACTIntroductionWe aimed to investigate whether long-term body weight variability (BWV) is associated with late-life dementia and to further assess their potential temporal relationships.MethodsIn 5,547 participants in Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a population-based prospective cohort, we quantified BWV as coefficient of variation using self-reported body weight from 1992 to 2008 and followed their dementia status from 2008 to 2016.ResultsA total of 427 incident dementia cases were identified. Larger long-term BWV was significantly associated with higher risk of dementia (HR comparing extreme quartiles: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.48-2.72; HR of each SD increment: 1.21, 95% CI,1.10-1.32; p-trend<0.001). This significant association was even observed for BWV estimated approximately 15 years preceding dementia diagnosis (HR of each SD increment: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.03-1.23) and was more pronounced for that closer to diagnosis.DiscussionOur findings suggested that large BWV could be a novel risk factor for dementia.