By Megan Rauscher
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) – Researchers have uncovered a strong link between low bone mineral density (BMD) and verbal memory impairment in a cross-sectional study of 4304 elderly subjects enrolled in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III).
"Verbal memory impairment is one of the strongest predictors of the future development of dementia and Alzheimer's disease," lead author Dr. Yuqing Zhang of Boston University told Reuters Health. Low estrogen exposure may increase the risk of verbal memory problems, he added, "and bone mass is a good marker of cumulative estrogen exposure."
In NHANES III, BMD of the proximal femur was measured using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. In their analysis of the possible relation between BMD and verbal memory impairment, the researchers found that people with greater BMD had better verbal memory. "There was a dramatic decrease in verbal memory impairment problems as BMD increased," Dr. Zhang said.
Specifically, his team reports in the November 1st issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology that the prevalence of verbal memory impairment for each increasing BMD quintile at the femoral neck was 8.35%, 5.74%, 5.22%, 5.00%, and 3.38% in women. In men, the prevalence of verbal memory impairment for each increasing BMD quintile was 11.54%, 7.27%, 8.47%, 6.29%, and 5.89%.
"This relation was consistent across almost all strata of potential confounding factors and was robust when different cutpoints were used to define verbal memory impairment," the investigators write.
These results suggest that "high levels of long-term estrogen exposure may be a critical element in the preservation of verbal memory with aging."
Am J Epidemiol 2001;154:795-802.
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