Body height in young adult men and risk of dementia later in adult life

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between body height and dementia and explored the impact of intelligence level, educational attainment, early life environment and familial factors. A total of 666,333 men, 70,608 brothers, and 7,388 twin brothers born 1939-1959 and examined at the conscript board were followed in Danish nationwide registers . Cox regression models were applied to analyze the association between body height and dementia. Within-brothers and withintwin pair analyses were conducted to explore the role of shared familial factors including partly shared genetics. In total, 10,599 men were diagnosed with dementia. The association between one z-score difference in body height and dementia (HR: 0.90, 95%CI: 0.89;0.90) was inverse and weakened slightly after adjustment for intelligence test scores and educational level. The within-brother analyses revealed a smaller estimate for dementia diagnosis the cohort analyses of brothers. The twin analysis showed similar, though less clear associations, which were not statistically significant.

Taller adult height is associated with better performance of cognitive trajectories in Chinese over 45 years old: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

“…Mounting evidence from cohort studies also suggests that stature might be an independent predictor of cognitive function 4,8,14,36–38 . Furthermore, a case–control study has shown that people in the highest quartile have a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease by 59% compared with the lowest quartile 39 .…”

Heterogeneous effects of genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease on the phenome

“…This is in conflict with some previous epidemiological studies. Increased adult height has reported associations with better cognitive performance and reduced risk of AD [39][40][41], which may relate to increased cognitive reserve associated with the larger head circumference or better nutrition leading to greater height and reduced AD risk [39]. Moreover, individuals with impaired lung function have been reported to have a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia [42,43].…”