Atrial fibrillation affects more than 33 million people worldwide and increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, and death. Fourteen genetic loci have been associated with atrial fibrillation in European and Asian ancestry groups. To further define the genetic basis of atrial fibrillation, we performed large-scale, trans-ancestry meta-analyses of common and rare variant association studies. The genome-wide association studies (GWAS) included 17,931 individuals with atrial fibrillation and 115,...

Objective: Exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5: PM with aerodynamic diameters < 2.5 µm) has been linked with cognitive deficits in older adults. Using fine-grained voxel-wise analyses, we examined whether PM2.5 exposure also affects brain structure. Methods: Brain MRI data were obtained from 1365 women (aged 71-89) in the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study and local brain volumes were estimated using RAVENS (regional analysis of volumes in normalized space). Based on geocoded ...

OBJECTIVES: As people age and the incidence of dementia increases, studies of cognitive function continue to be of importance. Ascertaining cognitive data through different mechanisms is necessary to address missing data concerns. METHODS: The Dementia Questionnaire (DQ), which utilizes proxy-based assessments, is a potential tool to determine cognitive status in participants no longer being followed per traditional study protocol. The DQ is currently being used in the Supplemental Case Ascertai...

Importance: Dementia affects a large and growing population of older adults. Although past studies suggest an association between vision and cognitive impairment, there are limited data regarding longitudinal associations of vision with dementia. Objective: To evaluate associations between visual impairment and risk of cognitive impairment. Design, setting, and participants: A secondary analysis of a prospective longitudinal cohort study compared the likelihood of incident dementia or mild cogni...

OBJECTIVE: Relatively few APOE e4+ carriers survive to old age (age 80+) without cognitive impairment (CI), thus little is known about distinguishing characteristics of resilient APOE e4+ carriers. Herein we describe the sociodemographic characteristics of a large sample of resilient APOE e4+ women from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) and compare them to non-carriers and APOE e4+ women who developed CI before age 80. METHODS: Women were recruited for clinical trials evaluating...

Adherence to Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) may lower the risk of dementia by impacting immunity and cholesterol, which are pathways also implicated by genome-wide association studies of Alzheimer's Dementia (AD). We examined whether adherence to the MIND diet could modify the association of genetic risk for AD with incident dementia. We used three ongoing US cohorts: Chicago Health and Aging Project (CHAP, n = 2449), Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP, n...

Introduction: Apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) carriers' tendency toward hypercholesterolemia may contribute to Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk through oxysterols, which traverse the blood-brain barrier. Methods: Relationships between baseline plasma oxysterols, APOE status, serum lipids, and cognitive impairment risk were examined in 328 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study. Women were followed for 25 years or until incident dementia or cognitive impairment. Results: Leve...

Background and Purpose- We examine the association between self-reported consumption of artificially sweetened beverages (ASB) and stroke and its subtypes, coronary heart disease, and all-cause mortality in a cohort of postmenopausal US women. Methods- The analytic cohort included 81 714 women from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study, a multicenter longitudinal study of the health of 93 676 postmenopausal women of ages 50 to 79 years at baseline who enrolled in 1993 to 1998. This p...

Dysregulation of the immune system and dietary patterns that increase inflammation can increase the risk for cognitive decline, but the mechanisms by which inflammatory nutritional habits may affect the development of cognitive impairment in aging are not well understood. To determine whether plasma proteins linked to inflammatory diet predict future cognitive impairment, we applied high-throughput proteomic assays to plasma samples from a subset (n = 1528) of Women's Health Initiative Memory St...

Background: Whether blood pressure (BP), and at what level of controlled BP, reduces risk of cognitive impairment remains uncertain. We investigated the association of BP and hypertension treatment status with mild cognitive impairment and dementia in older women. Methods: We prospectively analysed a sample of 7207 community-dwelling women aged 65-79 years participating in the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS). Participants were recruited between May 28, 1996, and Dec 13, 1999, at 3...

Introduction: Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) confers an increased risk of several chronic aging-related diseases. Paradoxically, CHIP was associated with lower risk of dementia in recent studies. Methods: We examined associations between baseline CHIP and incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and/or probable dementia in the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study. CHIP was detected using blood-based targeted sequencing. Cox proportional hazards models examined time to o...