Heart Rate Variability, Cognitive Performance and Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Results From the Einstein Aging Study.

Aims: Although prior work has examined the relation of heart rate variability (HRV) to cognitive impairment, findings have been inconsistent. The association of cardiac vagal control with cognitive impairment remains unclear. Our goal was to examine the association of high frequency HRV (hf-HRV) with mild cognitive impairment and global cognition in a community-based sample of older adults.

Prospective associations of American Heart Association Life's Essential 8 with subclinical measures of vascular health, cardiovascular disease events, and all-cause mortality in women traversing menopause: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation study.

Objectives: We aimed to characterize cardiovascular health status as measured by Life's Essential 8 (LE8) in midlife women and to test the associations between baseline and change since baseline in LE8 with subclinical measures of vascular health, cardiovascular disease (CVD) events, and all-cause mortality.

Methods: Baseline and follow-up LE8 metrics (diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep, body mass index, lipids, glucose, and blood pressure) were calculated as total and component scores. Changes in LE8 were calculated as differences between follow-up and baseline scores.

Enhanced associations between subjective cognitive concerns and blood-based AD biomarkers using a novel EMA approach.

Background: Subjective cognitive concerns (SCC) have emerged as important early indicators of Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk. Traditional measures of SCC rely on recall-based assessments, which may be limited in capturing real-time fluctuations in cognitive concerns. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) offers a promising alternative by providing real-time data.

Exposure to neighborhood concentrated poverty is associated with faster decline in episodic memory among midlife women.

Introduction: Neighborhood-level socioeconomic status (nSES) is associated with risk for cognitive impairment, but prior studies assessed nSES within an individual's own residential area without considering the distribution of nSES among adjacent areas.

Methods: Using up to 14 years of data from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (N = 1391, mean age = 54), we examined whether geographic clustering of concentrated neighborhood poverty was associated with cognitive decline over midlife.

Results: Greater neighborhood concentrated poverty was associated with faster decline in episodic memory but not in processing speed or working memory.

Computational Phenotyping of Cognitive Decline With Retest Learning.

Objectives: Cognitive change is a complex phenomenon encompassing both retest-related performance gains and potential cognitive decline. Disentangling these dynamics is necessary for effective tracking of subtle cognitive change and risk factors for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD).

Method: We applied a computational cognitive model of learning and forgetting to data from Einstein Aging Study (EAS; n = 316).

Sleep timing, sleep timing regularity, and cognitive performance in women entering late adulthood: the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN).

Study Objectives: This study examined whether sleep timing and its regularity are associated with cognitive performance in older women and whether associations vary based on cardiometabolic risk factors.

Methods: The cross-sectional analysis included 1177 community-dwelling females (mean age 65 years) from the observational Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) annual visit 15. Sleep timing (mean midpoint from sleep onset to wake-up) and its regularity (standard deviation of midpoint) were assessed using actigraphy.

Exposure to air pollution is associated with adipokines in midlife women: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation.

This study examined the associations between ambient air pollution exposure, including fine particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and ozone (O), with serum levels of high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin, leptin, and soluble leptin receptors (sOB-R) in midlife women. The analysis included 1551 participants from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (median age = 52.3 years) with adipokine data from 2002 to 2003.

Associations of endogenous estrogens, plasma Alzheimer's disease biomarkers, and carrier status on regional brain volumes in postmenopausal women.

Background: Women carrying the allele are at greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) from ages 65-75 years compared to men. To better understand the elevated risk conferred by carrier status among midlife women, we investigated the separate and interactive associations of endogenous estrogens, plasma AD biomarkers, and carrier status on regional brain volumes in a sample of late midlife postmenopausal women.

Methods: Participants were enrolled in MsBrain, a cohort study of postmenopausal women ( = 171, mean age = 59.

Endogenous Estrogens and Brain Activation During Verbal Memory Encoding and Recognition in the Postmenopause.

Context: Changes in verbal memory have been reliably reported across the menopause transition. To understand the role of endogenous estrogens in verbal memory performance, this study assessed the associations of endogenous estradiol and estrone with brain network connectivity during a verbal memory fMRI task.

Objective: Determine associations of endogenous estrogens with memory systems in the postmenopausal brain and evaluate clinical significance.

Reproductive hormones in relation to white matter hyperintensity volumes among midlife women.

Introduction: Although reproductive hormones are implicated in cerebral small vessel disease in women, few studies consider measured hormones in relation to white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV), a key indicator of cerebral small vessel disease. Even fewer studies consider estrone (E1), the primary postmenopausal estrogen, or follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), an indicator of ovarian age. We tested associations of estradiol (E2), E1, and FSH to WMHV among women.

Perceived but not objective measures of neighborhood safety and food environments are associated with longitudinal changes in processing speed among urban older adults.

Background: Although a growing body of literature documents the importance of neighborhood effects on late-life cognition, little is known about the relative strength of objective and subjective neighborhood measures on late-life cognitive changes. This study examined effects of objective and subjective neighborhood measures in three neighborhood domains (neighborhood safety, physical disorder, food environments) on longitudinal changes in processing speed, an early marker of cognitive aging and impairment.

Methods: The analysis sample included 306 community-dwelling older adults enrolled in the Einstein Aging Study (mean age = 77, age range = 70 to 91; female = 67.

Neighborhood physical environments and change in cardiometabolic risk factors over 14 years in the study of Women's health across the nation.

Background: Neighborhood physical environments may influence cardiometabolic health, but prior studies have been inconsistent, and few included long follow-up periods.

Methods: Changes in cardiometabolic risk factors were measured for up to 14 years in 2830 midlife women in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, a multi-ethnic/racial cohort of women from seven U.S.

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Introduction: The LIfestyle for BRAin Health (LIBRA) index yields a dementia risk score based on modifiable lifestyle factors and is validated in Western samples. We investigated whether the association between LIBRA scores and incident dementia is moderated by geographical location or sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods: We combined data from 21 prospective cohorts across six continents (N = 31,680) and conducted cohort-specific Cox proportional hazard regression analyses in a two-step individual participant data meta-analysis.

Elevated Blood Homocysteine Increases the Risk of Incident Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome: A Two-Cohort Study.

Background: Motoric Cognitive Risk (MCR) syndrome, a predementia syndrome characterized by cognitive complaints and slow gait, may have an underlying vascular etiology. Elevated blood levels of homocysteine, a known vascular risk factor, have been linked to physical and cognitive decline in older adults, though the relationship with MCR is unknown. We aimed to identify the association between homocysteine and MCR risk.

Cardiovascular Health, Race, and Decline in Cognitive Function in Midlife Women: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation.

Background: Cognitive decline may progress for decades before dementia onset. Better cardiovascular health (CVH) has been related to less cognitive decline, but it is unclear whether this begins early, for all racial subgroups, and all domains of cognitive function. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of CVH on decline in the 2 domains of cognition that decline first in White and Black women at midlife.

Does the Cognitive Change Index Predict Future Cognitive and Clinical Decline? Longitudinal Analysis in a Demographically Diverse Cohort.

Background: The Cognitive Change Index (CCI) is a widely-used measure of self-perceived cognitive ability and change. Unfortunately, it is unclear if the CCI predicts future cognitive and clinical decline.

Objective: We evaluated baseline CCI to predict transition from normal cognition to cognitive impairment in nondemented older adults and in predementia groups including, subjective cognitive decline, motoric cognitive risk syndrome, and mild cognitive impairment.

Trajectories of Sleep Over Midlife and Incident Cardiovascular Disease Events in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation.

Background: Up to 50% of women report sleep problems in midlife, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women. How chronic poor sleep exposure over decades of midlife is related to CVD risk in women is poorly understood. We tested whether trajectories of insomnia symptoms or sleep duration over midlife were related to subsequent CVD events among SWAN (Study of Women's Health Across the Nation) participants, whose sleep was assessed up to 16 times over 22 years.

Menopausal vasomotor symptoms and plasma Alzheimer disease biomarkers.

Background: Identifying risk factors for Alzheimer disease in women is important as women compose two-thirds of individuals with Alzheimer disease. Previous work links vasomotor symptoms, the cardinal menopausal symptom, with poor memory performance and alterations in brain structure, function, and connectivity. These associations are evident when vasomotor symptoms are monitored objectively with ambulatory skin conductance monitors.

Use of Antihypertensives, Blood Pressure, and Estimated Risk of Dementia in Late Life: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis.

Importance: The utility of antihypertensives and ideal blood pressure (BP) for dementia prevention in late life remains unclear and highly contested.

Objectives: To assess the associations of hypertension history, antihypertensive use, and baseline measured BP in late life (age >60 years) with dementia and the moderating factors of age, sex, and racial group.

Data Source And Study Selection: Longitudinal, population-based studies of aging participating in the Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC) group were included.

Six multidimensional sleep health facets in older adults identified with factor analysis of actigraphy: Results from the Einstein Aging Study.

Objectives: The concept of multi-dimensional sleep health, originally based on self-report, was recently extended to actigraphy in older adults, yielding five components, but without a hypothesized rhythmicity factor. The current study extends prior work using a sample of older adults with a longer period of actigraphy follow-up, which may facilitate observation of the rhythmicity factor.

Methods: Wrist actigraphy measures of participants (N = 289, M = 77.

The quantity and quality of cardiovascular fat at mid-life and future cognitive performance among women: The SWAN cardiovascular fat ancillary study.

Introduction: Cardiovascular fat is a novel risk factor that may link to dementia. Fat volume and radiodensity are measurements of fat quantity and quality, respectively. Importantly, high fat radiodensity could indicate healthy or adverse metabolic processes.