Aortic Valve Calcification and the Risk of dementia: A Population-Based Study

Article type: Short Communication

Authors: Wolters, Frank J.^{a; b; 1} | Bos, Daniel^{a; c; d; 1; *} | Vernooij, Meike W.^{a; c} | Franco, Oscar H.^a | The Heart-Brain Connection collaborative research group | Hofman, Albert^{a; d} | Koudstaal, Peter J.^b | van der Lugt, Aad^c | Ikram, M. Arfan^{a; b; c}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands | [b] Department of Neurology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands | [c] Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands | [d] Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Daniel Bos, MD, PhD, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Tel.:+31 10 7043930; Fax:+31 10 7044657; E-mail: d.bos@erasmusmc.nl.

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this manuscript.

Abstract: The association of aortic valve calcification (AVC) with dementia remains unknown. In 2,428 non-demented participants from the population-based Rotterdam Study, we investigated the association of CT-assessed AVC with risk of dementia and cognitive decline. AVC was present in 33.1% of the population. During a median follow-up of 9.3 years, 160 participants developed dementia. We found no association between presence of AVC and risk of all-cause dementia [hazard ratio (HR): 0.89 (95% confidence interval (CI):0.63;1.26)]. Presence of AVC was not associated with cognitive decline on any of the cognitive tests, nor with a measure of global cognition.

Keywords: Aortic valve pathology, calcification, dementia, epidemiology, imaging

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-160871

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 893-897, 2017