Weuve Jennifer, Ridker Paul M, Cook Nancy R, Buring Julie E, Grodstein Francine
Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Epidemiology. 2006 Mar;17(2):183-9. doi: 10.1097/01.ede.0000198183.60572.c9.
Inflammatory processes may be involved in the development of dementia, although findings from epidemiologic studies directly examining inflammatory markers and dementia or its precursor, impaired cognitive function, are inconsistent.
We measured plasma levels of the inflammatory marker, C-reactive protein, using a high-sensitivity assay (hs-CRP) in 4,231 older participants of the Women's Health Study, who provided blood samples between 1992 and 1996 when they were age 60 to 90 years. From 1998 to 2000, we administered a battery of 5 cognitive tests measuring general cognition, verbal memory, and category fluency. Using multiple linear regression, we compared mean cognitive test scores across quintiles of hs-CRP, adjusting for potential confounding factors.
There was a wide distribution of hs-CRP levels among these women, and a large proportion had levels considered to reflect a high risk of cardiovascular disease. We observed no suggestion, however, that higher hs-CRP levels were associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, on a global score combining results of all the cognitive tests, mean scores among women in the highest quintile of hs-CRP did not differ from those in the lowest quintile (multivariable-adjusted mean difference = 0.04; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.02 to 0.11, P for trend across quintiles = 0.38).
Overall, in these women, we found no evidence of a link between hs-CRP, a marker of inflammation, and decrements in cognitive function.
炎症过程可能参与痴呆症的发生发展，尽管直接研究炎症标志物与痴呆症或其前驱症状（认知功能受损）的流行病学研究结果并不一致。
我们采用高敏检测法（hs-CRP）测量了4231名女性健康研究中老年参与者的血浆炎症标志物C反应蛋白水平，这些参与者在1992年至1996年60至90岁时提供了血样。从1998年到2000年，我们进行了一系列5项认知测试，测量一般认知、言语记忆和类别流畅性。我们使用多元线性回归比较了hs-CRP五分位数组的平均认知测试得分，并对潜在的混杂因素进行了调整。
这些女性的hs-CRP水平分布广泛，很大一部分人的水平被认为反映了心血管疾病的高风险。然而，我们没有发现更高的hs-CRP水平与较差的认知表现相关的迹象。例如，在综合所有认知测试结果的总体得分上，hs-CRP最高五分位数组女性的平均得分与最低五分位数组女性的平均得分没有差异（多变量调整后的平均差异=0.04；95%置信区间[CI]：-0.02至0.11，五分位数间趋势的P值=0.38）。
总体而言，在这些女性中，我们没有发现炎症标志物hs-CRP与认知功能下降之间存在关联的证据。
