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Table 3 The association of risk factors with cognitive decline per age group

From: Age dependency of risk factors for cognitive decline

Risk factor

MMSE

15WT immediate recall

15WT delayed recall

≤70

> 70–80

> 80

≤70

> 70–80

> 80

≤70

> 70–80

> 80

APOE ε4

0.72

−4.24

−10.17

−0.65

−3.85

−5.32

0.18

−4.15

−8.52

Total cholesterol

−3.37

−0.10

1.26

−1.08

− 1.09

1.53

0.97

−1.53

1.27

LDL cholesterol

−5.40*

0.66

1.83*

−0.18

−1.92*

1.96*

0.68

−2.62

1.41

HDL cholesterol

7.35

−2.17

−1.07

− 1.84

2.64

0.50

6.21

1.45

2.97

Homocysteine

0.39

−0.40

−0.92

− 0.39

− 0.21

0.13

− 0.76*

−0.08

0.13*

Hypertension

0.04

−2.14*

6.52*

−5.65*

−0.22

5.06*

−4.04

3.54

0.43

DM

−0.95

−0.46

−9.32

− 0.11

−3.49

−0.29

−1.68

−5.44

4.90

MI

2.42

−1.59

2.23

0.41

1.93

5.64

4.90

0.62

10.14

Stroke

1.25

−9.16*

9.16*

2.60

−0.34

6.70

0.79

−1.58

−4.30

Depressive symptoms

−0.07

0.02

−0.06

−0.21

0.00

0.07

−0.11*

−0.23

0.21*

CRP

−0.18

0.18

0.19

−0.21

0.03

0.19

−0.19

−0.11

0.16

IL-6

0.02*

−0.10*

1.31*

0.27

−0.11

0.64

0.31

−0.03

0.88

ACT

0.00

0.01

0.06

−0.01

− 0.01

0.03

− 0.01*

−0.04

0.03*

Alcohola: minimalb

2.82*

−0.26

7.93*

3.19

−3.09

−0.31

5.91

−3.03

0.25

Alcohola: moderatec

0.78

−0.95

3.48

2.85

−3.51

1.42

3.19

−0.47

−0.69

Smoking

−0.30

−1.05

−5.15

−5.84*

0.53*

−1.13

−4.52

−2.88

−0.61

Physical activity

0.00

0.00

0.02

−0.01

0.01

0.00

0.01

0.01

0.00

  1. Shown are beta’s (multiplied by 100) of the associations of a risk factor with cognitive decline within each age group. They show the extra cognitive decline (next to the overall cognitive decline as visualized in Fig. 1) per age group in the presence of a risk factor. A negative beta indicates that a unit increase in the risk factor is associated with more cognitive decline. Bold beta’s indicate a significant (p < 0.05) association with cognitive decline in that age group (in Additional file 1: Tables S5–S7 we present the standard errors and p-values corresponding to the beta’s in this table per age group)
  2. 15WT 15 Words Test, ACT a1-antichymotrypsin, IL-6 interleukin-6, LDL Low-Density Lipoprotein, MMSE Mini-Mental State Examination
  3. *Association of risk factor with MMSE or 15WT decline is significantly different between these two age groups. In case of three *: difference is significant between ≤70 and > 80 years old group and between > 70–80 and > 80 years old group. Beta’s are determined by linear mixed models in combination with splines and adjusted for sex and education
  4. aNo alcohol use is reference group. bWomen:1 drink/day, men: 1–2 drinks/day. cWomen: > 1 drink/day, men: > 2 drink/day