title: The associations between serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor, potential confounders, and cognitive decline: a longitudinal study.
abstract: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a role in the maintenance and function of neurons. Although persons with Alzheimer's disease have lower cortical levels of BDNF, evidence regarding the association between circulating BDNF and cognitive function is conflicting. We sought to determine the correlates of BDNF level and whether BDNF level was prospectively associated with cognitive decline in healthy older adults. We measured serum BDNF near baseline in 912 individuals. Cognitive status was assessed repeatedly with the modified Mini-Mental Status Examination and the Digit Symbol Substitution test over the next 10 years. We evaluated the association between BDNF and cognitive decline with longitudinal models. We also assessed the association between BDNF level and demographics, comorbidities and health behaviors. We found an association between serum BDNF and several characteristics that are also associated with dementia (race and depression), suggesting that future studies should control for these potential confounders. We did not find evidence of a longitudinal association between serum BDNF and subsequent cognitive test trajectories in older adults, although we did identify a potential trend toward a cross-sectional association. Our results suggest that serum BDNF may have limited utility as a biomarker of prospective cognitive decline.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jasmine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nettiksimmons
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Branch, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Eleanor M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Simonsick
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography, and Biometry, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Satterfield
authors.affiliation: Center for Aging and Population Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rosano
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yaffe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000097:blood*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000097:blood*; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; C579455:BDNF protein, human