ArticleHuman brain mapping2022
Sex- and age-specific associations between cardiometabolic risk and white matter brain age in the UK Biobank cohort.
Article in Human brain mapping, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sex differences in Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review of two decades of neuroimaging research.The British journal of radiology · 2026Pooled it
- Associations between cognitive function and endogenous levels of estradiol and testosterone in adults with type 2 diabetes.Journal of diabetes and its complications · 2022Trial
- Mapping sex-specific associations of adiposity with age-related cognitive decline and multimodal Alzheimer's pathology.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Cardiovascular Disease Subtypes and Alzheimer's Disease: Phenotypic and Genetic Associations in the UK Biobank and All of Us Research Program.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2026Article
- Synchrony between brain age and internalising and externalising symptoms across adolescence.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Linking obesity with white matter microstructure highlights the importance of brainstem tracts and sex differences.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Phenotypic and Genetic Associations Between Cardiovascular Disease Subtypes and Alzheimer's Disease.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Mediation Analyses Link Cardiometabolic Factors and Liver Fat With White Matter Hyperintensities and Cognitive Performance: A UK Biobank Study.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Article
- The heart-brain axis: unraveling the interconnections between cardiovascular and Alzheimer's diseases.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Review
- Investigating the impact of sex and reproductive aging on latent signatures of modifiable dementia risk factors.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Article
- Sex-Dependent Effects of Cardiometabolic Health andNeurology · 2024Article
- Interactions between age, sex and visceral adipose tissue on brain ageing.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2024Article
- Sex and population differences in the cardiometabolic continuum: a machine learning study using the UK Biobank and ELSA-Brasil cohorts.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Linking menopause-related factors, history of depression, APOE ε4, and proxies of biological aging in the UK biobank cohort.Hormones and behavior · 2024Article
- Correlation between fat-to-muscle mass ratio and cognitive impairment in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Dissecting unique and common variance across body and brain health indicators using age prediction.Human brain mapping · 2024Article
- White adipose tissue distribution and amount are associated with increased white matter connectivity.Human brain mapping · 2024Article
- Brain asymmetries from mid- to late life and hemispheric brain age.Nature communications · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factors are associated with accelerated brain aging and increased risk for sex-dimorphic illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Yet, it is unknown how CMRs interact with sex and apolipoprotein E-ϵ4 (APOE4), a known genetic risk factor for AD, to influence brain age across different life stages. Using age prediction based on multi-shell diffusion-weighted imaging data in 21,308 UK Biobank participants, we investigated whether associations between white matter Brain Age Gap (BAG) and body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), body fat percentage (BF%), and APOE4 status varied (i) between males and females, (ii) according to age at menopause in females, and (iii) across different age groups in males and females. We report sex differences in associations between BAG and all three CMRs, with stronger positive associations among males compared to females. Independent of APOE4 status, higher BAG (older brain age relative to chronological age) was associated with greater BMI, WHR, and BF% in males, whereas in females, higher BAG was associated with greater WHR, but not BMI and BF%. These divergent associations were most prominent within the oldest group of females (66-81 years), where greater BF% was linked to lower BAG. Earlier menopause transition was associated with higher BAG, but no interactions were found with CMRs. In conclusion, the findings point to sex- and age-specific associations between CMRs and brain age. Incorporating sex as a factor of interest in studies addressing CMR may promote sex-specific precision medicine, consequently improving health care for both males and females.
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