Obesity increases risk of dementia 2.5 fold in men, lowest risk with BMI of 20 to 22.5

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Wednesday, February 16, 2005 2:05 pm Email this article
The risk of dementia increases for men when body mass index (BMI) exceeds 22.5 according to a new study from Sweden. Lowest risk of dementia with BMI 20-22.5

The risk of dementia is lowest in men with a BMI of 20 to 22.49.

Risk greater in men with BMI higher or lower than this

The risk associated with BMIs greater or lower than this were as follows:

• BMI less than 20, 2.2 times greater risk
• BMI 22.5 to 24.99, 1.7 times greater risk
• BMI 25 to 27.49, 1.9 times greater risk
• BMI 27.5 to 29.99, 2.3 times greater risk
• BMI 30 or greater, 2.5 times greater risk

After adjusting for risk factors

These risk were calculated after adjusting for smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and social class.

Conclusion

“Previous studies have shown that risk factors commonly associated with coronary disease, stroke, and other vascular disorders predict dementia,” the authors noted.

“Overweight and obesity could be major preventable factors in the development of dementia,” the authors concluded.

Comment

I can’t but wonder if elevated risk of demetia associated with increasing weight is related to inflammation.

Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, have been found to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s (in ‘t Veld, 2001), whereas obesity has been called an chronic inflammatory state.

The paper that stated that obesity was an inflammatory state, also said that, “The success of weight loss surgery in treating the complications associated with obesity is most probably related to the reduction of inflammatory mediators.?

However, why would thin patients, those with a BMI less than 20, be at greater risk?

Perhaps these patients already have Alzheimer’s, but it has not yet been recognized.

A previous paper found that people with a BMI less than 21 were 1.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, however, when they excluded patients who developed Alzheimer’s shortly after the study—indicating that they already had Alzheimer’s—they found no association of a low BMI to Alzheimers and concluded, “A low BMI does not in itself seem to be a risk factor for dementia.” (Nourhashemi, 2003)

Another study found that Alzheimer’s patients lost weight, and on average weighed 21 percent less than patients without dementia, and 14 percent less than patients with dementia caused by multiple strokes, however, the weight loss in the Alzheimer’s patients was “not accounted for by any obvious deficit in food intake, or by malabsorption,” the authors concluded. (Singh, 1988) “The reason for weight loss in Alzheimer’s remains uncertain.”

So perhaps being underweight does not increase the risk of Alzheimer’s, as Nourhashemi (2003) suggested, but rather patients with Alzheimer’s tend to be underweight.

REFERENCE

Rosengren A, Skoog I, Gustafson D, Wilhelmsen L. Body mass index, other cardiovascular risk factors, and hospitalization for dementia. Arch Intern Med. 2005 Feb 14, 165(3):321-26.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

A. Rosengren
Department of Medicine
Sahlgrenska University Hospital
Ostra, Goteborg, Sweden

OTHER REFERENCES

In T’ Veld BA, Ruitenberg A, Hofman A, Launer L, Van Duijn CM, Stijnen T, Breteler M, Stricker B. Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and the risk of alzheimer’s disease. N Engl J Med. 2001 Nov 22, 345(21):1515-21.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Eramus Medical Center
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Nourhashemi F, Deschamps V, Larrieu S, Letenneur L, Dartigues J, Barberger-Gateau P. Body mass index and incidence of dementia: the paquid study. Neurology. 2003 Jan 14, 60(1):117-19.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

F. Nourhashemi
Service de Medecine Interne et de Gerontologie Clinique
CHU Purpan-Casselardit
Toulouse, France
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Singh S, Mulley G, Losowsky M. Why are alzheimer patients thin? Age Ageing. 1988 Jan, 17(1):21-28.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

S. Singh
Department of Medicine
St James’s Hospital
Leeds, UK

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