| Title: | Infection and increased risk of incident dementia: the role of biological aging |
| Journal: | Brain Behavior and Immunity |
| Published: | 9 Jun 2026 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42263789/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2026.106862 |
Publication 20838
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Abstract
BACKGROUNDS: It is unclear how the contribution of infectious diseases to dementia risk compares to that of accelerated biological aging. Our study aims to evaluate the associations between infectious diseases and dementia, and assess whether accelerated biological aging moderates the relationship between infection and dementia risk.</p>
METHODS: This study conducted a prospective study involving 339 463 participants aged 37-73 years from the UK Biobank cohort data across 2006 and 2010. Hospital-treated infectious diseases and dementia were identified through record linkage to Health Episode Statistics and Scottish Morbidity Records. Cox regression models were used to assess the association between hospital-treated infections and the risk of developing dementia. Phenotypic age was derived from a validated mortality risk algorithm developed using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III data (Tanaka et al., 2018). Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate associations between infections and dementia (all-cause dementia: dementia, young-onset dementia: YOD, vascular dementia: VD and Alzheimer's Disease: AD).</p>
RESULTS: Over a follow-up of 13.51 years, 5, 638incident dementia cases were identified. Hospital-treated infectious diseases were significantly associated with an increased risk of dementia (HR = 2.39, 95 % CI: 2.25-2.53). Consistent patterns emerged across pathogen types, clinical severity categories, and anatomical sites, with most infections showing significant associations with increased young-onset dementia risk. And this effect was consistent among both APOE ε4 carriers and non-carriers, as well as across dementia subtypes and across different sociodemographic groups. The interaction between phenotypic age and infection was significant with the risk of dementia (HR = 1.20, 95 % CI: 1.06-1.37), indicating that the association between infection-related hospitalization and dementia incidence was stronger among biologically older individuals, as determined by their phenotypic age acceleration status.</p>
CONCLUSIONS: Infection associated with the increased risk of dementia, including the risk of AD, VD, and YOD, and the accelerated phenotypic aging further intensifies the association between infection and dementia. APOE ε4 carrier status modifies both the age-stratified relationship between infection and dementia and the moderating effect of accelerated phenotypic aging. Our findings highlight the importance of infection prevention and anti-aging interventions as potential strategies for dementia prevention, and underscore the need to consider APOE ε4 carrier status and age stratification when designing such strategies.</p>
6 Authors
- Ruoxi Ding
- Tingting Zhang
- Guangwen Liu
- Yujie Huang
- Miaomiao Zhao
- Yanan Luo
1 Application
| Application ID | Title |
|---|---|
| 77963 | Dissecting racial/ethnic disparities in dementia traits through socio-economic, lifestyle, cardio-metabolic risk and infectious agents, with focus on Helicobacter pylori sero-positivity |
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