A new study of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Columbia Butler Aging Center suggests that risk factors and biomarkers with regard to Alzheimer’s disease are associated with cognition much earlier than previously recognized. The study highlights significant associations between cognition and the risk factors of Alzheimer’s disease as young as age 24 to 44 and underlines the importance of early prevention. This is the first study to systematically investigate the risk factors of Alzheimer’s disease, including biomarkers related to cognitive disorders in a large group of middle -aged people in the US. The findings are published in The regional health of Lancet.
“Earlier research into the risk factors of Alzheimer’s the risk factors of Alzheimer’s focused on people aged 50 and older,” said Allison Aiello, PhD, James S. Jackson Healthy Longevity Professor or Epidemiology in the Butler Aging Center and Columbia Mailman School. “The potential impact of our findings is considerable and offers clinicians and health researchers a better understanding of the early rise of the risk factors of Alzheimer’s disease and their association with cognition before medium age.
According to Aiello, the results show that various established risk factors and blood biomarkers are linked to cognitive function, even before Midlife. These earlier lifelong associations offer a basic line for predicting long -term trajectories of cognitive decline. “Moreover, we have learned that certain Alzheimer’s risk factors, such as cardiovascular health, ATN (amyloid, tau, neurodegeneration) and immune biomarkers are and are related to cognition among individuals in their forty and even earlier.”
Aiello and colleagues used the cardiovascular risk factors, aging and incidence of dementia (caide) score, which takes into account factors such as age, education, sex, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol, physical activity and the gene variant. Data was analyzed from waves IV and V of the national longitudinal study of adolescente on adult health (ADD Health), which since 1994-1995 followed a national representative cohort of adolescents via several follow-up waves. About half of the participants in Golf IV were female (48.4-52.1%) and just over 70 percent (71.4-72.5%) were white.
In particular, Golf IV consisted of data of a maximum of 11, 449 people aged 24-34. The researchers have held interviews, cognitive tests, physical exams and collected blood samples of 4,507 participants. In WAVE V, both personal and web/posts surveys were addressed to participants aged 34-44. The total of 1,112 participants who received interviews at home were given cognitive tasks such as immediate word groups, delayed word solution and backward figure span and provided a sample for genetic tests. Scores on the cognitive tasks were linked to the overall caide score at 529 people at Wave V.
“Investing the relationship between the CAIDE score and the cognitive function in young maturity and early midlife in the US showed that significant associations with cardiovascular risk factors could be observed well before the age of 50,” Aiello explained.
In addition, biological – genetic, neurological, immune and inflammatory biomarkers are involved in the risk of Alzheimer’s health insurance. The amyloid (A), Tau
Our general findings suggest that blood -based biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s disease are linked to differences in cognitive function decades before clinical symptoms and disorders even appear, which emphasizes the importance of early prevention strategies during the life course. Identifying the early paths for Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive impairment before older age is crucial for delaying the expected increase in Alzheimer’s disease in the coming decades. “
Allison Aiello, PhD, James S. Jackson Healthy Longevity Professor of Epidemiology in the Butler Aging Center and Columbia Mailman School
Co-authors are Jennifer Momkus, Chantel L. Martin, Lauren Gaydosh, Y. Claire Yang, Taylor Hargrove and Kathleen Mullan Harris, University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill; Rebecca C. Stebbins, Butler Columbia Aging Center; Yuan S. Zhang and Adina Zeki Al Hazzouri, Butler Columbia Aging Center and Mailman School of Public Health.
The study was supported by ADD Health, Grant P01HD31921, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, P2CHD050924, Cooperative Fund of 23 other Federal Agencies and Foundations, the National Institute on Agency, and the National Institute on Institute on Astitute and On Agingute on Astitute on Agency88888888848888888 institute U01AG071450; and R01AG057800 & P30AG066615 from NIA and T32HD091058.
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Journal Reference:
Aiello, AE, et Alt Alto. (2025). Risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and the cognitive function before middle -aged in an American representative population -based research. The Lancet Regional Health – Americas. doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2025.101087.