Department of Exercise Science, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA.
Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
J Alzheimers Dis. 2022;88(3):985-993. doi: 10.3233/JAD-220042.
Aging-associated cognitive decline is greater in non-Hispanic Black (NHB) adults than non-Hispanic White (NHW) adults. An important risk factor for cognitive decline with aging is arterial stiffening, though the importance to racial variation remains poorly understood.
We examined the association of an estimate of arterial stiffness with cognitive function in a bi-racial sample of 60-85-year-old adults (N = 3,616, 26.5% NHB) enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999-2002 and 2011-2014.
As a measure of vascular aging, pulse wave velocity was estimated (ePWV) using an equation incorporating age and mean arterial pressure and expressed as m/s. Using the digit symbol substitution test (DSST), cognitive function was expressed as the number of correctly matched symbols (out of 133) within 120 s. Linear regression models examined associations between ePWV and DSST.
In models that adjusted for sex, education, smoking, body mass index, history of cardiovascular disease, and hypertension, ePWV was inversely associated with DSST score in NHB adults (β= -3.47, 95% CI = -3.9 to -3.0; p < 0.001) and NHW adults (β= -3.51, 95% CI = -4.4 to -2.6; p < 0.001).
ePWV is inversely associated with a measure of cognitive function in older Black and White adults. ePWV may be a useful measure of vascular aging that can offer insight into cognitive aging.
非西班牙裔黑人（NHB）成年人的认知能力衰退比非西班牙裔白人（NHW）成年人更为明显。动脉僵硬是与衰老相关的认知能力下降的一个重要危险因素，尽管其对种族差异的重要性仍知之甚少。
我们在一个由 60-85 岁的 NHANES 参与者组成的双种族样本中（1999-2002 年和 2011-2014 年期间，共 3616 名参与者，26.5%为 NHB），研究了动脉僵硬评估指标与认知功能的关系。
作为血管老化的衡量指标，使用包含年龄和平均动脉压的方程来估算脉搏波速度（ePWV），并以 m/s 表示。使用数字符号替代测试（DSST），在 120 秒内正确匹配的符号数量表示认知功能（共 133 个符号）。线性回归模型用于研究 ePWV 与 DSST 之间的关系。
在调整了性别、教育程度、吸烟、体重指数、心血管疾病史和高血压的模型中，ePWV 与 NHB 成年人的 DSST 评分呈负相关（β=-3.47，95%CI=-3.9 至-3.0；p<0.001）和 NHW 成年人（β=-3.51，95%CI=-4.4 至-2.6；p<0.001）。
ePWV 与黑人及白人老年成年人认知功能的衡量指标呈负相关。ePWV 可能是评估血管老化的有效指标，能为认知老化提供深入了解。
