Metabolic syndrome and cognitive deficits in the Greek cohort of Epirus Health Study

Abstract

Background Metabolic syndrome is considered an important risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia. However, the evidence in middle-aged individuals is still conflicting. The aim of the study was to explore the association between metabolic syndrome and its individual components with cognitive function and to investigate possible interaction between sex, age and genetic predisposition for metabolic syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease in a middle-aged Greek cohort. Methods A total of 2,077 healthy adults (mean age: 46.7 years) were included in the primary cross-sectional analysis and 305 of them in secondary prospective analyses. Metabolic syndrome was defined by the revised National Cholesterol Education-Adult Treatment Panel III and the International Diabetes Federation criteria. Cognitive function was measured primarily with the Trail Making, Verbal fluency and Logical Memory test, and in secondary prospective analyses with online versions of Posner cueing task, an emotional recognition task, Corsi block-tapping task and Stroop task. Results Multivariable linear regressions showed an association of metabolic syndrome with lower performance in attention (β=1.62 seconds, 95% CI=0.20, 3.04) and memory (β=-0.62 words, 95% CI=-1.19, -0.05) that could be driven by associations with elevated fasting glucose and abdominal obesity. Similar associations were observed in the secondary prospective analyses. Conclusion In summary, metabolic syndrome was associated with cognitive deficits in domains related with the cognitive profile of vascular cognitive impairment.

Inflammatory Pathways in Overweight and Obese Persons as a Potential Mechanism for Cognitive Impairment and Earlier Onset Alzeihmer’s Dementia in the General Population: A Narrative Review

“…The authors found patients with metabolic syndrome to perform worse in phonetic and semantic fluency tasks compared to normal subjects but found no correlation with waist circumference (although other components of the metabolic syndrome correlated with verbal performance) [65]. Phonemic verbal fluency (as well as delayed recall) was associated with abdominal obesity in another study on metabolic syndrome patients, while immediate recall and attention, mental flexibility, and visual-motor skills (evaluated by the Trial Making Test) were not [66]. Similarly, significantly lower phonemic fluency and lower inhibitory control were observed in obese patients without eating disorders as compared to healthy-weight controls [67].…”

Sleep Quality and Cognitive Abilities in the Greek Cohort of Epirus Health Study

“…For the secondary prospective analyses, the neuropsychological tests used were the online versions of the Posner cueing task, 45 an emotional word recognition task, 46 the Corsi block-tapping task 47 and the Stroop task. 48 Participants were invited to complete the computer-based neuropsychological tests through the online platform PsyToolkit.…”

Healthy Aging in Menopause: Prevention of Cognitive Decline, Depression and Dementia through Physical Exercise

“…In general, studies conclude that factors such as smoking, depressive disorders, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and APOE ε4 genotype are associated with greater cognitive decline, whereas better physical health, physical activity, Mediterranean diet and cognitive training are protective factors. However, no studies have been found that indicate that it affects women more than men or vice versa [107,[113][114][115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131].…”