Abstract:Background: Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a modifiable risk factor associated with cognitive impairment and cerebrovascular diseases. However, the causal effect of BP on white matter (WM) brain aging remains unclear. Methods: In this study, we focused on N=219,968 non-pregnant, family-unrelated individuals of European ancestry who had genotype data and two non-null clinical BP measurements available (99,532 male and 120,436 female, mean age=56.55, including 16,901 participants with neuroimaging data availabl… Show more
White matter (WM) brain age, a neuroimaging-derived biomarker indicating WM microstructural changes, helps predict dementia and neurodegenerative disorder risks. The cumulative effect of chronic stress on WM brain aging remains unknown. In this study, we assessed cumulative stress using a multi-system composite allostatic load (AL) index based on inflammatory, anthropometric, respiratory, lipidemia, and glucose metabolism measures, and investigated its causal association with WM brain age gap (BAG), computed from diffusion tensor imaging data using a machine learning model, among 22 951 European ancestries aged 40 to 69 (51.40% women) from UK Biobank. Linear regression, Mendelian randomization, along with inverse probability weighting and doubly robust methods, were used to evaluate the impact of AL on WM BAG adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic, and lifestyle behaviors. We found increasing one AL score unit significantly increased WM BAG by 0.29 years in association analysis and by 0.33 years in Mendelian randomization causal analysis. The age- and sex-stratified analysis showed consistent results among participants 45-54 and 55-64 years old, with no significant sex difference. This study demonstrated that higher chronic stress caused accelerated brain aging, highlighting the importance of stress management in reducing dementia and neurodegenerative disease risks.
White matter (WM) brain age, a neuroimaging-derived biomarker indicating WM microstructural changes, helps predict dementia and neurodegenerative disorder risks. The cumulative effect of chronic stress on WM brain aging remains unknown. In this study, we assessed cumulative stress using a multi-system composite allostatic load (AL) index based on inflammatory, anthropometric, respiratory, lipidemia, and glucose metabolism measures, and investigated its causal association with WM brain age gap (BAG), computed from diffusion tensor imaging data using a machine learning model, among 22 951 European ancestries aged 40 to 69 (51.40% women) from UK Biobank. Linear regression, Mendelian randomization, along with inverse probability weighting and doubly robust methods, were used to evaluate the impact of AL on WM BAG adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic, and lifestyle behaviors. We found increasing one AL score unit significantly increased WM BAG by 0.29 years in association analysis and by 0.33 years in Mendelian randomization causal analysis. The age- and sex-stratified analysis showed consistent results among participants 45-54 and 55-64 years old, with no significant sex difference. This study demonstrated that higher chronic stress caused accelerated brain aging, highlighting the importance of stress management in reducing dementia and neurodegenerative disease risks.
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