“…1 Despite a well-established mechanistic understanding of neuroinflammation's role in neurodegeneration, epidemiologic studies exploring the link between peripheral inflammation and cognitive ability have reported inconsistent findings. 2 Most of this research has been cross-sectional and has focused on the elderly or dementia cases, leaving a gap in longitudinal studies conducted in younger, cognitively normal populations. 3 In a study published in this issue of Neurology ®, Bahorik et al 4 use data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study to investigate how trajectories of C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in adulthood relate to cognitive ability in midlife.…”