Metabolic syndrome is associated with accelerated brain aging.
Authors
Affiliations (8)
Affiliations (8)
- Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
- Public Health Science and Engineering College, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China.
- Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Abstract
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with increased dementia risk, but its relationship with brain aging is unclear. The study included 27,375 UK Biobank participants aged 40 to 70 years. MetS was defined as having at least three of five components: central adiposity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and hyperglycemia. Levels of 33 plasma metabolites were measured from baseline blood samples. Brain age was estimated using a machine learning model based on 1079 phenotypes from brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and used to calculate brain age gap (BAG, i.e., brain age minus chronological age). Participants with MetS had significantly higher BAG compared to MetS-free individuals (β = 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.99 to 1.27). Each individual MetS component was also associated with higher BAG. Eight metabolites significantly mediated the MetS-BAG association (mediation proportion: 2.6% to 16.5%), including apolipoproteins, fatty acids, and inflammatory markers. MetS is associated with accelerated brain aging, partly mediated by inflammation and altered lipid metabolism.