Body Weight Variability Increases Dementia Risk Among Older Adults: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study

Abstract

Background: Recent growing evidences suggest that body weight (Bwt) variability, a repeated loss and regain of weight within a specific period, causes metabolic disturbances and can be a marker for poor homeostasis. Although there have been many studies about the association between Bwt variability and various health status, its association with the incidence of dementia among elderly people has not been examined. Methods: We performed a retrospective elderly cohort study from 19,987 participants with mean age 73 years old in the Korean National Health Insurance Service. We examined the risk of incident dementia, including Alzheimer's dementia and vascular dementia, according to the quartile of Bwt variability, represented as coefficient of variation (Bwt-CV), SD (Bwt-SD), and variability independent of the mean (Bwt-VIM). Results: In fully adjusted model, the group with the highest Bwt variability (Bwt-VIM Q4) showed an increased risk of all-cause dementia (hazard ratio [HR] 1.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.206-1.603) and Alzheimer's dementia (HR 1.46, CI 1.240-1.724) compared to the lowest quartile (Bwt-VIM Q1). We also found that subjects with the highest Bwt variability (Q4) and underweight BMI had a significantly increased risk of developing dementia (HR 1.994, 95% CI 1.302-3.054), while subjects with low Bwt variability (Q1 and Q2) and obese BMI had decreased risk of dementia (HR 0.664, 95% CI 0.505-0.872 and HR 0.648, 95% CI 0.493-0.852, respectively) compared to reference group (lowest Bwt variability (Q1) with normal baseline BMI). The effect of Bwt variability on the incidence of dementia was more prominent in subjects <75 years old and abnormal BMI groups (P for interaction < 0.05). Conclusion: The present study revealed that high Bwt variability was associated with an increased risk of dementia in the elderly.

Body mass index trajectories and the risk for Alzheimer’s disease among older adults

“…To our knowledge, there are very few studies, which investigated the association between body weight variability and risk for dementia. Previous studies reported that higher weight variability was associated with an increased risk for dementia 15,16 . In our study, we used ASV, the average absolute difference between BMI values of each measurement, as a measure of variability.…”

Long-term Variability in Cardiometabolic and Inflammatory Parameters and Cognitive Decline: The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

“…Research examining the association between anthropometric parameter variability and cognitive function in the general older population is scarce. Only one prospective study has examined the association between BMI variability and dementia [39], and others are limited to the effect of body weight variability on dementia [40][41][42]. In our study, we examined the relationship between the variability in two obesity indicators (BMI and WHtR) and cognitive decline.…”

Exploring the Genetic Conception of Obesity via the Dual Role of FoxO

“…Future research on the role of BMI in memory loss has not yet provided a definitive picture. Certain studies have shown no correlation or even reduced BMI with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease (AD) [ 3 , 4 ], whereas others have indicated higher BMI as a possible cause for dementia [ 5 ], or overweight to be correlated with dementia decades later. At least partially, the dynamic interplay may explain the various findings obtained by different experiments.…”