ArticleBrain, behavior, and immunity2019
Aging-related changes in fluid intelligence, muscle and adipose mass, and sex-specific immunologic mediation: A longitudinal UK Biobank study.
Article in Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Shared genetic and molecular architecture between insulin resistance and cognitive performance.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- The association of thigh myosteatosis with lower cognitive function in older cancer survivors.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Obesity and Cognitive Function: Leptin Role Through Blood-Brain Barrier and Hippocampus.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Abdominal myosteatosis is associated with lower processing speed in a multiethnic cohort of older adults.Archives of gerontology and geriatrics · 2025Article
- Metabolomic insight into the link of intermuscular fat with cognitive performance: the Health ABC Study.GeroScience · 2025Article
- How is the brain affected by metabolically healthy or unhealthy obesity in adulthood and elderly? A narrative review of neuroimaging and neurocognitive findings.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Review
- Allergy-unrelated eosinophil activation in the peripheral blood of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Interplay between preclinical indices of obesity and neural signatures of fluid intelligence in youth.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Increase in skeletal muscular adiposity and cognitive decline in a biracial cohort of older men and women.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2023Article
- Bioenergetic and vascular predictors of potential super-ager and cognitive decline trajectories-a UK Biobank Random Forest classification study.GeroScience · 2023Article
- Beer, wine, and spirits differentially influence body composition in older white adults-a United Kingdom Biobank study.Obesity science & practice · 2022Article
- Demand Coupling Drives Neurodegeneration: A Model of Age-Related Cognitive Decline and Dementia.Cells · 2022Review
- Using machine learning to predict COVID-19 infection and severity risk among 4510 aged adults: a UK Biobank cohort study.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on the Onset and Progression of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias: A Roadmap for Future Research.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2022Review
- Using machine learning to predict COVID-19 infection and severity risk among 4,510 aged adults: a UK Biobank cohort study.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2021Article
- Gut Microbiome, Inflammation, and Cerebrovascular Function: Link Between Obesity and Cognition.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2021Review
- Walking in the Light: How History of Physical Activity, Sunlight, and Vitamin D Account for Body Fat-A UK Biobank Study.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2020Article
- Association of relative brain age with tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, and genetic variants.Scientific reports · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundObesity in midlife and early late-life is associated with worse normal cognitive aging. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) suggests that visceral adipose mass (VAM) plays a predominant role, whereas non-visceral adipose mass (NVAM) and lean muscle mass (LMM) have shown conflicting relationships. It is unknown how longitudinal, cognitive changes in age-sensitive domains like fluid intelligence (FI) correspond to VAM, NVAM, and LMM in women and men. Furthermore, changes over time in blood leukocyte sub-populations may partially or fully account for sex-specific associations.
methodsData on 4431 late middle-aged, cognitively unimpaired adults (mean = 64.5 y) was obtained from the UK Biobank prospective cohort across 22 centers. FI scores, blood leukocyte counts, and covariates (age, social class, education) were measured at three 2-year intervals over 6 years. DEXA collection overlapped with these intervals. Sex-stratified growth curves, structural equations, and Preacher-Hayes mediation were used to estimate direct and indirect effects. β-weights were standardized.
resultsMore LMM predicted gains in FI scores among women (β = 0.130, p < .001) and men (β = 0.089, p < .001). Conversely, more VAM and NVAM independently predicted FI decline equally among sexes (e.g., NVAM: women: β = -0.082, p < .001; men: β = -0.076, p < .001). Among women, FI associations were fully mediated by higher eosinophil counts via VAM (λ = 30.8%, p = .028) and lower lymphocyte counts via LMM (λ = 69.2%, p = .021). Among men, FI associations were partially mediated by lower basophils counts via LMM (λ = 4.5%, p = .042) and higher counts via VAM (λ = 50%, p = .037).
conclusionThe proportion of LMM and VAM equally influenced male FI changes over 6 years, whereas higher LMM among women appeared to more strongly influence. FI changes. Leukocyte counts strongly mediated VAM- and LMM-related FI changes in a sex-specific manner, but not for NVAM. For clinical translation, exercise studies in older adults may benefit from assessing sex-specific values of DEXA-based tissue mass, FI, and leukocyte sub-populations to gauge potential cognitive benefits of less VAM and more LMM.
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