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Caffeine, Cognitive Functioning, and White Matter Lesions in the Elderly: Establishing Causality from Epidemiological Evidence

Issue title: Therapeutic Opportunities for Caffeine in Alzheimer's Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Disorders

Guest editors: Rodrigo A. Cunhax and Alexandre de Mendonçay

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Ritchie, Karena; * | Artero, Sylvainea | Portet, Florencea | Brickman, Adamb | Muraskin, Jordanb | Beanino, Ephrema | Ancelin, Marie-Laurea | Carrière, Isabellea

Affiliations: [a] Inserm, U888, Montpellier, France and University of Montpellier 1, Montpellier, France | [b] Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA | [x] Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology of Coimbra and Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal | [y] Institute of Molecular Medicine and Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Karen Ritchie, Inserm U888 Nervous System Pathologies: Epidemiological and Clinical Research, La Colombière Hospital, BP 34493, 34093 Montpellier, Cedex 5, France. Tel.: +33 4 99 61 45 60; Fax: +33 4 99 61 45 79; E-mail: [email protected].

Keywords: Caffeine, cognitive decline, cohort study, white matter lesions

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-2010-1387

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 20, no. s1, pp. S161-S166, 2010

Published: 14 April 2010
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Abstract

The present study examines the epidemiological evidence for a causal relationship between caffeine consumption and cognitive deterioration in the elderly. Using a population of 641 elderly persons, we examined cognitive functioning, caffeine consumption, magnetic resonance imaging volumetrics, and other factors known to affect cognitive performance. Our findings demonstrate the association between caffeine consumption and lower cognitive change over time to be statistically significant for women only, taking into account multiple confounders, to be dose-dependent and temporarily related (caffeine consumption precedes cognitive change). Mean log transformed white matter lesion/cranial volume ratios were found to be significantly lower in women consuming more than 3 units of caffeine per day after adjustment for age (−1.23 SD=0.06) than in women consuming 2−3 units (−1.04 SD=0.04) or one unit or less (−1.04 SD=0.07, −35% in cm3 compared to low drinkers). This observation is coherent with biological assumptions that caffeine through adenosine is linked to amyloid accumulation and subsequently white matter lesion formation. The significant relationship observed between caffeine intake in women and lower cognitive decline is highly likely to be a true causal relationship and not a spurious association.

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