Affiliations: [a] Department of Anatomy, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud university medical centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands | [b] Department of Neurology, State University of New York—Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA | [c] UMS 011 Inserm Versailles, Saint Quentin, France | [d] Institution for Neuroscience and Physiology, Section for Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Deborah R. Gustafson, PhD, Department of Neurology, State University of New York—Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Box 1213 Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA. Tel.: +1 718 270 1581; E-mail: deborah.gustafson@downstate.edu.
Abstract: The occurrence of obesity, commonly estimated using body mass index (BMI), and the most common late-onset dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), are increasing globally. The year 2013 marked a decade of epidemiologic observational reports on the association between BMI and late-onset dementias. In this review, we highlight epidemiological studies that measured both mid- and late-life BMI in association with dementia. Studies investigating the association between midlife BMI and risk for dementia demonstrated generally an increased risk among overweight and obese adults. When measured in late-life, elevated BMI has been associated with lower risk. In addition, being underweight and/or having a decrease in BMI in late-life are associated with higher dementia risk compared to BMI in the normal range or stable BMI. In this review, a decade (2003–2013) of epidemiologic observational studies on associations between BMI and AD is highlighted. These observations provide a strong base for addressing biological mechanisms underlying this complex association.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, body mass index, dementia, epidemiology, obesity, overweight
