Observational studyNeuroImage2018
Systemic inflammation as a predictor of brain aging: Contributions of physical activity, metabolic risk, and genetic risk.
Observational study in NeuroImage, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- From Polygenic Scores to Precision Medicine in Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2020Pooled it
- Polygenic scores for longevity in relation to brain MRI measures in a cohort of 70-year-olds.npj aging · 2026Article
- Complement Activation as a Predictor of Postoperative Delirium in Elderly Spine Surgery Patients.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Cortical mean diffusivity detects early age-related changes and associates with cognition and plasma biomarkers.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Review
- Epigenetic mechanisms of HIV and opioid-induced neuropathology: Potential therapies and interventions.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2025Review
- DNA Methylation Signatures of Systemic Inflammation Are Associated With Brain Volume, Cognitive Trajectories, and Long-Term Dementia Risk.Aging cell · 2025Article
- Cardiometabolic health and physical robustness map onto distinct patterns of brain structure and neurotransmitter systems.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Role of rheumatoid arthritis flare in the risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: a population-based cohort study.Scandinavian journal of rheumatology · 2025Article
- White matter microstructure in mid- to late adulthood is influenced by pathway-stratified polygenic risk for Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Exercise mitigates Alzheimer's disease by targeting ferroptosis driven by cellular senescence.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Review
- Neurometabolic Profile in Obese Patients: A Cerebral Multi-Voxel Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
- Temporal changes in brain morphology related to inflammation and schizophrenia: an omnigenic Mendelian randomization study.Psychological medicine · 2024Article
- Spatially resolved transcriptome of the aging mouse brain.Aging cell · 2024Article
- Exercise Reshapes the Brain: Molecular, Cellular, and Structural Changes Associated with Cognitive Improvements.Molecular neurobiology · 2023Review
- Increased brain age and relationships with blood-based biomarkers following concussion in younger populations.Journal of neurology · 2023Article
- Article
- Brain hypoxia, neurocognitive impairment, and quality of life in people post-COVID-19.Journal of neurology · 2023Article
- The reverse transcriptase inhibitor 3TC protects against age-related cognitive dysfunction.Aging cell · 2023Article
- Accelerated brain aging with opioid misuse and HIV: New insights on the role of glially derived pro-inflammation mediators and neuronal chloride homeostasis.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2023Review
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Inflammatory processes may contribute to risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and age-related brain degeneration. Metabolic and genetic risk factors, and physical activity may, in turn, influence these inflammatory processes. Some of these risk factors are modifiable, and interact with each other. Understanding how these processes together relate to brain aging will help to inform future interventions to treat or prevent cognitive decline. We used brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan 335 older adult humans (mean age 77.3 ± 3.4 years) who remained non-demented for the duration of the 9-year longitudinal study. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) in a subset of 226 adults to evaluate whether measures of baseline peripheral inflammation (serum C-reactive protein levels; CRP), mediated the baseline contributions of genetic and metabolic risk, and physical activity, to regional cortical thickness in AD-relevant brain regions at study year 9. We found that both baseline metabolic risk and AD risk variant apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE4), modulated baseline serum CRP. Higher baseline CRP levels, in turn, predicted thinner regional cortex at year 9, and mediated an effect between higher metabolic risk and thinner cortex in those regions. A higher polygenic risk score composed of variants in immune-associated AD risk genes (other than APOE) was associated with thinner regional cortex. However, CRP levels did not mediate this effect, suggesting that other mechanisms may be responsible for the elevated AD risk. We found interactions between genetic and environmental factors and structural brain health. Our findings support the role of metabolic risk and peripheral inflammation in age-related brain decline.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.