Metabolic syndrome and cognitive function in midlife

Rates of dementia are expected to quadruple in the next 50 years. Interventions at late stages of the disease have been unsuccessful and early identification of individuals who are vulnerable to cognitive decline is a challenge. Declines likely begin decades before the onset of clinical symptoms. Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) identifies a cluster of risk factors associated with significant cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and cognitive decline in older age. In this study, we set out to test if changes in cognitive test performance in relation to MetS or its components can be detected with conventional neuropsychological tests in otherwise healthy middle-aged adults. Our study included 201 native English speakers (ages 40-60), free of neurological or psychiatric disorders. Global cognitive function was assessed with the Mini Mental State Examination and Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, 2nd Edition, Block Design and Vocabulary subtests. Executive function (EF) was assessed with the Stroop Color-Word, Digit Span Backward and Trails A and B tests. Memory was assessed with the California Verbal Learning Test, Second Edition. The presence of MetS was evaluated during a health assessment, based on consensus criteria established by Alberti et. al. (2009). We hypothesized that an increased number of MetS components will be associated with poorer performance on test of executive function as frontal lobe regions critical to EF are particularly vulnerable to the effects of cardiovascular disease. We found that the number of MetS components was related to EF. A similar relationship was detected for tests of memory. Our findings support prior research linking MetS components at midlife to executive dysfunction and demonstrate that MetS and its components are associated with poorer performance on assessments of memory function. This suggests that cognitive vulnerability can be detected at midlife. Interventions for MetS at midlife could alter cognitive outcomesPsycholog