Abstract
Introduction: Peripheral correlates of age-associated cognitive decline are important tools in the screening for potentially abnormal courses of cognitive aging. Since salivary gland function is controlled by the autonomic and central nervous system, associations between cognitive changes and salivary gland hypofunction were tested in two groups of middle-aged men in late midlife, who differed substantially with respect to their midlife performance in verbal intelligence when compared with their performance in young adulthood.Materials and Methods: Participants (n = 193) were recruited from the Danish Metropolit Cohort of men born in 1953. Based on their individual change in performance in two previously administered intelligence tests, they were allocated to one group of positive and one group of negative outliers in midlife cognition scores, indicating no decline versus decline in test performance. All participants underwent a clinical oral examination including assessments of their dental, periodontal, and mucosal conditions. Whole and parotid saliva flow rates were measured, and the number of systemic diseases and medication intake as well as daytime and nocturnal xerostomia were registered.Results: Participants with decline in cognitive test performance in midlife had significantly lower unstimulated whole saliva flow rates, higher prevalence of hyposalivation and daytime xerostomia and a higher caries experience than participants with no decline in midlife performance. Daytime and nocturnal xerostomia were associated with daily intake of medication and alcohol.Discussion: Overall, hyposalivation, xerostomia and poor dental status distinguished a group of men displaying relative decline in cognitive performance from a group of men without evidence of cognitive decline. Thus, hyposalivation and poor dental health status may represent potential correlates of age-related cognitive decline in late midlife, provided that other causes can be excluded.
Highlights
Peripheral correlates of age-associated cognitive decline are important tools in the screening for potentially abnormal courses of cognitive aging
Previous studies on the potential relation between cognitive decline and autonomic dysfunction in persons with cognitive disorders suggest that functional aspects of salivary glands might predict cognitive decline analogous to cardiovascular correlates that relate to impaired cognition (Kim et al, 2006; Collins et al, 2012)
Data were available from 176 men and 95.5% of them were employed
Summary
Peripheral correlates of age-associated cognitive decline are important tools in the screening for potentially abnormal courses of cognitive aging. Salivary gland function is under autonomic control and regulated by higher order brain centers, many of which participate in a central autonomic network of connected brain structures at forebrain, midbrain and brainstem levels (Pedersen et al, 2012). It is well-known that for example mental stimuli or affective states can influence saliva secretion, and the relation between cognitive processes and saliva secretion has found use in psychophysiological studies. Hyposalivation may reflect lowered parasympathetic activity as parasympathetic stimulation mediates the largest fluid output from the glands (Pedersen et al, 2012)
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