Background: The association of age at coronary heart disease (CHD) onset with incident dementia remains unexplored. This study aimed to examine whether younger onset age of CHD is associated with a higher risk of incident dementia.
Methods and results: Data were obtained from the UK Biobank. Information on the diagnosis of CHD and dementia was collected at baseline and follow-ups. Propensity score matching method and Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the association between different ages at CHD onset and incident dementia. A total of 432 667 adults (mean±SD age, 56.9±8.1 years) were included, of whom 11.7% had CHD. Compared with participants without CHD, participants with CHD exhibited higher risks of developing all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular dementia. More importantly, younger age at CHD onset (per 10-year decrease) was significantly associated with elevated risks of all-cause dementia (hazard ratio [HR], 1.25 [95% CI, 1.20-1.30]; P<0.001), Alzheimer's disease (HR, 1.29 [95% CI, 1.20-1.38]; P<0.001), and vascular dementia (HR, 1.22 [95% CI, 1.13-1.31]; P<0.001). After propensity score matching, patients with CHD had significantly higher risks of all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular dementia than matched controls among all onset age groups, and the HRs gradually elevated with decreasing age at CHD onset.
Conclusions: Younger onset age of CHD is associated with higher risks of incident all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular dementia, underscoring the necessity to pay attention to the neurocognitive status of individuals diagnosed with CHD at younger age to conduct timely interventions to attenuate subsequent risk of incident dementia.
Keywords: UK Biobank; coronary heart disease; dementia; onset age; propensity score matching.