Association of Cancer History with Lifetime Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Li, Yaqi^{a; 1} | Xu, Xinming^{a; 1} | Wang, Peilu^a | Chen, Xiqun^b | Yang, Qishan^a | Sun, Liang^{a; 2; *} | Gao, Xiang^{a; 2; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Institute of Nutrition, Fudan University, Shanghai, China | [b] Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Liang Sun, PhD, Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Institute of Nutrition, Fudan University, 130 Dong’an Road, Shanghai 200032, China. Tel.: +86 021 54237087; Fax: +86 021 64037364; Email: sun_liang@fudan.edu.cn and Xiang Gao, MD, PhD, Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Institute of Nutrition, Fudan University, 130 Dong’an Road, Shanghai 200032, China. Tel.: +86 021 54231087; Fax: +86 021 64037364; E-mail: xiang_gao@fudan.edu.cn.

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

Note: [2] These authors contributed equally as senior authors.

Abstract: Background:The literature presents conflicting results regarding the potential protective effect of prevalent cancer on the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Objective:Association between cancer and subsequent risk of dementia and/or AD was reported previously, but survival bias has been of concern. Here, we aimed to calculate the lifetime risk of dementia and AD and evaluate the association of cancer history with these two conditions. Methods:In this retrospective analysis, we included 292,654 participants aged 60+ y during the follow-up and free of dementia at baseline, within the UK Biobank cohort. Lifetime risks of dementia and AD were estimated in individuals with and without cancer history, and different durations of cancer exposure and cancer types. Results:During a median of 12.5 follow-up years, 5,044 new dementia and 2,141 AD cases were reported. Lifetime risks of dementia and AD were lower in cancer survivors compared to those without cancer, and this effect was more pronounced in participants with cancer history exposure≥5 years. Similar relationship was observed in individual cancer types, except for breast cancer. Conclusions:Results suggested an inverse association between cancer history and lifetime risk of dementia and AD, which may be modified by different cancer types and cancer exposure time.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, dementia, lifetime risk

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-231223

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 98, no. 4, pp. 1319-1328, 2024