Investigating the Association of Inflammation Scores with Cognitive Function Öffentlichkeit

Abstract

Background: Mild cognitive impairment is a transitional stage between normal cognitive function and dementia. Previous research has investigated inflammatory markers in relation to cognition. However, individual inflammatory markers may not fully reflect the inflammatory state. As such, we aimed to assess the relationship between cognitive impairment using both individual inflammatory markers and composite measures of inflammation. 

Methods: Participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Aging were used to investigate the cross-sectional (n=4228) as well two-year (n=3670) and ten-year (n=2604) longitudinal associations between inflammation at baseline and cognitive function. The association of memory, executive function, processing speed, and aggregate cognition was investigated with four biomarkers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin, fibrinogen, and white blood cell (WBC) count), as well as with two composite inflammation scores. Inflammation scores were calculated by classifying individual inflammatory biomarkers into quintiles, which were then summed. IS1 incorporated CRP, ferritin, and fibrinogen, while IS2 incorporated CRP, ferritin, fibrinogen, and WBC count. Age, sex, education, marital status, occupation, prevalent CVD or risk factors, and smoking were included as covariates. 

Results: Higher serum ferritin was associated with better memory (B = 0.11, S.E. = 0.06) at baseline and higher WBC count was associated with worse processing speed (B = -1.35, S.E. = 0.65) at baseline. No other markers were associated with cognitive function at baseline. In the longitudinal analyses, no markers were associated with cognitive function after adjustment. Neither inflammation score was significantly associated with cognition after adjustment for covariates in the cross-sectional or longitudinal analyses.

Conclusions: In this analysis, systemic low-grade inflammation does not appear to be significantly associated with cognitive function, either cross-sectionally or longitudinally.

Table of Contents

BACKGROUND 2

INTRODUCTION 8

METHODS 8

Participants 9

Measures 10

Statistical Analysis 13

RESULTS 14

Sample Characteristics 14

Cross-Sectional Analysis 15

Longitudinal Analyses 15

DISCUSSION 16

Strengths and Limitations 19

PUBLIC HEALTH SIGNIFICANCE 20

TABLES 21

Table 1. Participant Characteristics 21

Table 2. Cross-Sectional Associations 23

Table 3. Longitudinal Associations at Two Years Follow Up 24

Table 4. Longitudinal Associations at Ten Years Follow Up 25

DATASET ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 26

REFERENCES 27

APPENDICES 33

Appendix 1: Directed Acyclic Graph 33

Appendix 2: IRB Determination of Non-Human Subjects Research Form 34

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Epidemiology
Subfield / Discipline	Epidemiology - MPH & MSPH
Degree	M.P.H.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health Health Sciences, Epidemiology
Stichwort	Epidemiology Cognitive function Inflammation
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Ambar Kulshreshtha, Emory University

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