While only concomitant depressive symptoms were associated with HcV, both previous depression and more proximal depressive symptoms were associated with faster HcV loss in women.

Introduction: Infectious agents were recently implicated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and etiology of other dementias, notably Helicobacter pylori. Methods: We tested associations of H. pylori seropositivity with incident all-cause and AD dementia and with AD-related mortality among US adults in a retrospective cohort study. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Surveys III, phase 1 (1988–1991) and 1999–2000 linked with Medicare and National Death Index registries, were used (baseline age ≥45 y, follow-up to 2013, Npooled = 5927). Results: A positive association between H. pylori seropositivity and AD mortality was found in men (hazard ratioadj, pooled = 4.33, 95% confidence interval: 1.51–12.41, P =.006), which was replicated for incident AD and all-cause dementia, with hazard ratioadj, pooled = 1.45 (95% confidence interval: 1.03–2.04, P = .035) and hazard ratioadj, III = 1.44 (95% confidence interval: 1.05–1.98, P = .022), respectively. These associations were also positive among higher socioeconomic status groups. Discussion: In sum, H. pylori seropositivity’s direct association with AD mortality, all-cause dementia, and AD dementia was restricted to men and to higher socioeconomic status groups. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Cigarette smoking has been associated with dementia and dementia-related brain changes, notably gray matter (GM) volume atrophy. These associations are thought to reflect the co-morbidity of smoking and vascular, respiratory, and substance use/psychological conditions. However, the extent and localization of the smoking-GM relationship and the degree to which vascular, respiratory, and substance use/psychological factors influence this relationship remain unclear. In the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults CARDIA cohort (n = 698; 52% women; 40% black participants; age = 50.3 (SD = 3.5)), we examined the associations of smoking status with total GM volume and GM volume of brain regions linked to neurocognitive and addiction disorders. Linear regression models were used to adjust for vascular, respiratory, and substance use/psychological factors and to examine whether they modify the smoking-GM relationship. Compared to never-smokers, current smokers had smaller total GM volume (−8.86 cm3 (95%CI = −13.44, −4.29). Adjustment for substance use/psychological – but not vascular or respiratory – factors substantially attenuated this association (coefficients = −5.54 (95% CI = −10.32, −0.76); −8.33 (95% CI = −12.94, −3.72); −7.69 (95% CI = −6.95, −4.21), respectively). There was an interaction between smoking and alcohol use such that among alcohol non-users, smoking was not related to GM volumes and among alcohol users, those who currently smoked had −12 cm3 smaller total GM, specifically in the frontal and temporal lobes, amygdala, cingulate, and insula. Results suggest a large-magnitude association between smoking and smaller GM volume at middle age, accounting for vascular, respiratory, and substance use/psychological factors, and that the association was strongest in alcohol users. Regions suggested to be most vulnerable are those where cognition and addiction processes overlap.

The authors' objective was to investigate the associations of body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height (m)(2)) and blood pressure with the risk of developing depression in a large sample of elderly French participants (aged ≥65 years) followed for 10 years (Dijon portion of the Three-City Study, 1999-2010). Depression was defined as either having major depressive symptoms according to the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview or taking antidepressant medication. The authors fitted marginal structural models to examine the relations of BMI and blood pressure with depression. Among subjects who were depression-free at baseline (n = 3,090), 478 developed incident depression over 10 years of follow-up. The analyses showed that after baseline values and time-dependent confounders were controlled, subjects with high BMI at follow-up had an increased adjusted risk of developing depression compared with subjects with normal BMI (risk ratio = 1.60, 95% confidence interval: 1.03, 2.51). Compared with subjects with normal blood pressure, those with high blood pressure were not at increased risk of incident depression, whereas those with low blood pressure had a higher risk of developing depression. These findings provide some epidemiologic support for implication of lifestyle risk factors in the development of depression in the elderly. Future studies should focus on evaluating lifestyle and obesity interventions among the elderly.

In this cohort of older adults, lower socioprofessional attainment in midlife and disadvantageous life-course socioeconomic position were associated with faster hippocampal atrophy, a cerebral change linked to cognitive disorders. Results support the hypothesized links between socioenvironmental exposures related to stress and/or cognitive enrichment and brain/cognitive reserve capacities.