Overweight at age 70 increases women's risk of AD.

2003 AUG 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study from Sweden has found a striking association between women being overweight at 70 and developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) 10 to 18 years later.

The study was reported in the July 15, 2003, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine and sponsored, in part, by a grant from the Alzheimer's Association.

Deborah Gustafson, PhD, who conducted research for the study while at Gothenburg University, and her colleagues followed 392 adults for 18 years, from age 70 to 88, to determine whether being overweight put them at increased risk for dementia and AD.

It has been hard to determine how obesity and overweight affect risk in AD because weight loss frequently occurs before clinical symptoms of dementia appear, Gustafson said.

"Overweight and obesity are very closely associated with vascular diseases, such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, and hypertension. And there is more and more evidence that vascular diseases are very important as risk factors in AD," she said. "But because of the weight loss associated with pre-clinical dementia, it takes an extended study to uncover the dangers that overweight may pose to a very elderly population."

Women in the study who developed AD between the ages of 79 and 88 were significantly more likely to have been overweight at age 70, as well as at 75 and 79. The women who developed AD were much heavier, with a body mass index (BMI) an average of 3.6 units higher than that of women who did not become demented. For every unit increase in BMI at age 70, the risk of developing AD increased by 36%.

BMI is a measure of body fatness in both men and women based on height and weight. BMI is calculated as kilograms per meter squared. A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered normal weight. A BMI over 25 is defined as overweight and 30 or greater as obese. Women who had a BMI greater than 29 when they were 70 years old were more likely to have AD in their 80s. A BMI of 29 corresponds to a woman who is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs about 170 pounds.