Aims/hypothesis: Midlife obesity is a risk factor for dementia. We investigated the impact of obesity on brain structure, metabolism, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) core Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers in healthy elderly.
Methods: We selected controls from ADNI2 with CSF AD biomarkers and/or fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and 3T-MRI. We measured cortical thickness, FDG uptake, and CSF amyloid beta (Aβ)1-42, p-tau, and t-tau levels. We performed regression analyses between these biomarkers and body mass index (BMI).
Results: We included 201 individuals (mean age 73.5 years, mean BMI 27.4 kg/m2). Higher BMI was related to less cortical thickness and higher metabolism in brain areas typically not involved in AD (family-wise error [FWE] <0.05), but not to AD CSF biomarkers. It is notable that the impact of obesity on brain metabolism and structure was also found in amyloid negative individuals.
Conclusions/interpretation: In the cognitively unimpaired elderly, obesity has differential effects on brain metabolism and structure independent of an underlying AD pathophysiology.
Keywords: body mass index; cerebrospinal fluid Alzheimer's disease biomarkers; fluorodeoxyglucose PET; magnetic resonance imaging; obesity; pre‐clinical Alzheimer's disease.
© 2020 The Authors. Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Alzheimer's Association.