Brief Reports

Lifestyle and the Risk of Dementia in Japanese-American Men

  1. Rebecca P. Gelber MD, DrPH1,2,3,*,
  2. Helen Petrovitch MD1,2,4,
  3. Kamal H. Masaki MD1,4,
  4. Robert D. Abbott PhD1,5,
  5. George Webster Ross MD1,2,4,
  6. Lenore J. Launer PhD6,
  7. Lon R. White MD, MPH1,4

Article first published online: 28 DEC 2011

DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03768.x

Issue

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

Volume 60, Issue 1, pages 118–123, January 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Gelber, R. P., Petrovitch, H., Masaki, K. H., Abbott, R. D., Ross, G. W., Launer, L. J. and White, L. R. (2012), Lifestyle and the Risk of Dementia in Japanese-American Men. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 60: 118–123. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03768.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, Kuakini Medical Center

  2. 2

    Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Healthcare System, Honolulu, Hawaii

  3. 3

    Medicine

  4. 4

    Geriatric Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii

  5. 5

    Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Virginia, School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia

  6. 6

    Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography and Biometry, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

*Address correspondence to: Rebecca P. Gelber, Kuakini Physicians Tower, 405 N. Kuakini St., Ste. 1111, Honolulu, HI 96817. E-mail: rpgelber@gmail.com

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 12 JAN 2012
  2. Article first published online: 28 DEC 2011

Funded by

  • National Institute on Aging. Grant Number: N01-HC-05102
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
  • Research and Development
  • Medical Research Service
  • Department of Veterans Affairs

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Keywords:

  • dementia;
  • lifestyle;
  • risk

Objectives

To determine whether adhering to a healthy lifestyle in midlife may reduce the risk of dementia.

Design

Case–control study nested in a prospective cohort.

Setting

The Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, Oahu, Hawaii.

Participants

Three thousand four hundred sixty-eight Japanese-American men (mean age 52 in 1965–1968) examined for dementia 25 years later.

Measurements

Men at low risk were defined as those with the following midlife characteristics: nonsmoking, body mass index (BMI) less than 25.0 kg/m2, physically active, and having a healthy diet (based on alcohol, dairy, meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, cereals, and ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fat). Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for developing overall dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD), adjusting for potential confounders.

Results

Dementia was diagnosed in 6.4% of men (52.5% with AD, 35.0% with VaD). Examining the risk factors individually, BMI was most strongly associated with greater risk of overall dementia (OR = 1.87, 95% CI = 1.26–2.77; BMI > 25.0 vs <22.6 kg/m2). All of the individual risk factors except diet score were significantly associated with VaD, whereas none were significantly associated with AD alone. Men with all four low-risk characteristics (7.2% of the cohort) had the lowest OR for overall dementia (OR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.15–0.84). There were no significant associations between the combined low-risk characteristics and the risk of AD alone.

Conclusion

Among Japanese-American men, having a healthy lifestyle in midlife is associated with a lower risk of dementia in late life.

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