Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Scotland.
Health Psychol. 2011 Nov;30(6):710-8. doi: 10.1037/a0023940. Epub 2011 May 23.
In a prospective cohort study the authors examined associations between childhood intelligence at age 11 and inflammatory and hemostatic biomarkers in middle age.
Participants were 9,377 men and women born in the United Kingdom in March 1958, and whose blood plasma samples at age 45 years were analyzed for levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer, fibrinogen, tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) antigen, and von Willebrand factor (VWF). Sex-adjusted linear regression models tested cognition-blood biomarker associations, with and without adjustment for potential confounding by parental socioeconomic status and potential mediation by cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors at midlife. Cognitive tests taken at age 50 enabled the inflammation-cognition association to be tested for reverse causation, by adjusting for age 11 intelligence.
Higher childhood intelligence test scores were significantly associated (p < .001) with lower adult levels of CRP (beta coefficient = -0.068), t-PA antigen (β = -0.014), D-dimer (β = -0.011), fibrinogen (β = -0.011), and VWF antigen (β = -0.008). Early life factors including parental socioeconomic status accounted for 24%-44% of these associations, whereas further adjustment for adult CVD risk factors largely attenuated the effects (82%-100%). The significant inverse associations between age 45 biomarker levels and age 50 cognition could be accounted for to a substantial degree by childhood intelligence (50%-100% attenuation).
Childhood intelligence is predictive of inflammatory and hemostatic biomarker status at middle age, which may be largely explained by health behaviors. This highlights the need to consider possible bidirectional associations between cognition and inflammation (and hemostasis) in lifecourse models of CVD-related health.
在一项前瞻性队列研究中，作者研究了 11 岁时儿童智力与中年时炎症和止血生物标志物之间的关系。
参与者为 1958 年 3 月在英国出生的 9377 名男性和女性，他们在 45 岁时的血浆样本被分析了 C 反应蛋白（CRP）、D-二聚体、纤维蛋白原、组织型纤溶酶原激活物（t-PA）抗原和血管性血友病因子（VWF）的水平。调整后的线性回归模型检验了认知与血液生物标志物的关系，包括和不包括对父母社会经济地位的潜在混杂因素的调整，以及对中年心血管疾病（CVD）风险因素的潜在中介作用的调整。在 50 岁时进行的认知测试，通过调整 11 岁时的智力，可以测试炎症与认知的反向因果关系。
较高的儿童智力测试分数与成年时较低的 CRP（β系数=-0.068）、t-PA 抗原（β=-0.014）、D-二聚体（β=-0.011）、纤维蛋白原（β=-0.011）和 VWF 抗原（β=-0.008）水平显著相关（p<0.001）。包括父母社会经济地位在内的早期生活因素解释了这些关联的 24%-44%，而对成年 CVD 风险因素的进一步调整则大大削弱了这些关联（82%-100%）。年龄 45 岁时的生物标志物水平与年龄 50 岁时的认知之间的显著负相关关系，可以在很大程度上通过儿童智力来解释（50%-100%的衰减）。
儿童智力可预测中年时的炎症和止血生物标志物状态，这可能在很大程度上可以通过健康行为来解释。这突显了在 CVD 相关健康的生命历程模型中，需要考虑认知与炎症（和止血）之间可能存在的双向关联。
