Abstract
Objective: Women experienced disproportionated prevalence of dementia and higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) after menopause. Cardiovascular fat (CF) which is associated with CVD may impact cognitive function through vascular pathology. Perimenopausal women had more CF compared with pre/early perimenopausal women. However, research on the association between CF volume, density and cognitive function among perimenopausal women is limited. We aimed to assess associations of CF volume and density with future cognitive function among midlife women. Design: Midlife women with measures of CF volume and density along with cognitive function measured 1.46 (SD=0.68) years later were evaluated. Computed tomographic scans were used to quantify volume and density of total heart adipose tissue (TAT), EAT, and perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) of the descending aorta. Digit span backward test, East Boston memory test, and symbol digit modalities test were used to test working memory, verbal episodic memory, and processing speed, respectively. The relationship between each CF measurement and each cognitive function metric was assessed separately with linear regression models. Final models included age, education level, race, menopausal status, waist hip ratio, number of cognitive tests conducted before the included test, and fat density for corresponding fat volume or fat volume for corresponding fat density. Results: Three hundred and eighty-five women (mean age of 50.6 (SD=2.4) years old; 29.2% post-menopausal) were included. In the final models (Table), higher EAT and TAT density were significantly associated with a higher processing speed and immediate episodic memory, respectively. However, there was a significant negative association between PVAT density and working memory. Conclusion: Our findings suggest an association between CF radio-density and future cognitive function in midlife women, which may differ by cardiovascular fat location (heart vs. vasculature).
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