title: Pulse Pressure Magnifies the Effect of COMT Val(158)Met on 15 Years Episodic Memory Trajectories.
abstract: We investigated whether a physiological marker of cardiovascular health, pulse pressure (PP), and age magnified the effect of the functional COMT Val(158)Met (rs4680) polymorphism on 15-years cognitive trajectories [episodic memory (EM), visuospatial ability, and semantic memory] using data from 1585 non-demented adults from the Betula study. A multiple-group latent growth curve model was specified to gauge individual differences in change, and average trends therein. The allelic variants showed negligible differences across the cognitive markers in average trends. The older portion of the sample selectively age-magnified the effects of Val(158)Met on EM changes, resulting in greater decline in Val compared to homozygote Met carriers. This effect was attenuated by statistical control for PP. Further, PP moderated the effects of COMT on 15-years EM trajectories, resulting in greater decline in Val carriers, even after accounting for the confounding effects of sex, education, cardiovascular diseases (diabetes, stroke, and hypertension), and chronological age, controlled for practice gains. The effect was still present after excluding individuals with a history of cardiovascular diseases. The effects of cognitive change were not moderated by any other covariates. This report underscores the importance of addressing synergistic effects in normal cognitive aging, as the addition thereof may place healthy individuals at greater risk for memory decline.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stockholm University Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ninni
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Persson
authors.affiliation: The Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska University HospitalStockholm, Sweden; Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska InstitutetStockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Catharina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lavebratt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Umeå UniversityUmeå, Sweden; Centre for Demographic and Ageing Research, Umeå UniversityUmeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sundström
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stockholm University Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Håkan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fischer
keywords: COMT; SNP; aging; cognition; hypertension; longitudinal; single nucleotide polymorphism