Maria-Eleni Dounavi, Coco Newton, Elijah Mak, Audrey Low, Graciela Muniz Terrera, Guy B. Williams, Brian Lawlor, Lorina Naci, Paresh Malhotra, Clare E. Mackay, Ivan Koychev, Karen Ritchie, Craig W. Ritchie, Li Su, John T O’Brien.

Journal of Neurology (2022)

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2021-32746

Summary

Structural brain alterations such as volume loss in brain structures like the hippocampus, or thinning of the brain cortex typically occur  before cognitive symptomatology in people who will later develop dementia. In this study we investigated whether middle-aged participants in the PREVENT-Dementia study at risk of future dementia based on their genetic or cardiovascular risk demonstrated prominent structural brain alterations. Genetic risk was not associated with changes in brain volume even in the hippocampal subfields or with cortical thinning. A higher cardiovascular risk though (CAIDE dementia risk score) incorporating information on age, sex, education, blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index and activity was associated with cortical thinning. This study highlights that in midlife, cardiovascular risk and not genetic risk for dementia is related to patterns of brain changes which are reminiscent of the patterns observed in dementia.​