Haemoglobin Concentration and Cognitive Ability in the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s

Mohammed t Bashir; Chris Mcneil; Usman Rasul; Alison Murray

doi:10.7759/cureus.21806

Haemoglobin Concentration and Cognitive Ability in the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s

Mohammed t Bashir
, Chris Mcneil
, Usman Rasul
, Alison Murray

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Introduction
Haemoglobin concentrations decrease with age. Abnormally low and high haemoglobin concentrations are associated with reduced cognition; however, the evidence for these associations in cohort data is limited. This study aims to assess the relationship between haemoglobin concentration and cognition in a well-characterised cohort of older adults.

Methods
Two hundred and fifty-two healthy participants were drawn from the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s cohort, aged between 59 to 65 years. Participants underwent cognitive tests of processing speed, memory, verbal and nonverbal reasoning, and language ability and these were used to construct a global cognitive score, g, using principal component analysis. Haemoglobin concentration in the blood was measured concurrently. Hierarchical multiple regression models were constructed assessing the relationship between haemoglobin concentration and each cognitive measure and these were corrected for age, sex, education, C-reactive protein, hypertension, and body mass index.

Results
Significant linear association between haemoglobin concentration and nonverbal reasoning demonstrated that low haemoglobin levels are associated with lower scores. A quadratic relationship was found for haemoglobin concentration and immediate memory scores in which low and high haemoglobin levels were associated with lower scores.

Conclusions
Haemoglobin concentration was found to have a significant linear association with nonverbal reasoning scores and a significant quadratic association with memory scores. The results from this study help to understand the association between haemoglobin and different aspects of cognition.

Original language	English
Article number	e21806
Number of pages	8
Journal	Cureus
Volume	14
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.21806
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

We are grateful to the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS) participants, the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s (ACONF), and Walker subset of GS:SFHS who have taken part in the STratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally (STRADL) study. We also thank the families of the participants and the wider GS:SFHS and STRADL project teams. We also are thankful to the Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre for their support and guidance in carrying out this project.

Funding

STRADL was funded by The Welcome Trust via a Strategic Award to Professor Andrew McIntosh 104036/Z/14?Z.

Funders	Funder number
Wellcome Trust	104036/Z/14/Z

Keywords

ageing
anemia
cognition
dementia
haemoglobin

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10.7759/cureus.21806Licence: CC BY

Bashir_etal_C_Haemoglobin_Concentration_and_VOR
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY 4.0., which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
Final published version, 138 KBLicence: CC BY

Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre
Waiter, G. (Manager) & Morris, T. (Facilities Co-ordinator)
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Cite this

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title = "Haemoglobin Concentration and Cognitive Ability in the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s",

abstract = "Introduction Haemoglobin concentrations decrease with age. Abnormally low and high haemoglobin concentrations are associated with reduced cognition; however, the evidence for these associations in cohort data is limited. This study aims to assess the relationship between haemoglobin concentration and cognition in a well-characterised cohort of older adults. Methods Two hundred and fifty-two healthy participants were drawn from the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s cohort, aged between 59 to 65 years. Participants underwent cognitive tests of processing speed, memory, verbal and nonverbal reasoning, and language ability and these were used to construct a global cognitive score, g, using principal component analysis. Haemoglobin concentration in the blood was measured concurrently. Hierarchical multiple regression models were constructed assessing the relationship between haemoglobin concentration and each cognitive measure and these were corrected for age, sex, education, C-reactive protein, hypertension, and body mass index. Results Significant linear association between haemoglobin concentration and nonverbal reasoning demonstrated that low haemoglobin levels are associated with lower scores. A quadratic relationship was found for haemoglobin concentration and immediate memory scores in which low and high haemoglobin levels were associated with lower scores. Conclusions Haemoglobin concentration was found to have a significant linear association with nonverbal reasoning scores and a significant quadratic association with memory scores. The results from this study help to understand the association between haemoglobin and different aspects of cognition.",

keywords = "ageing, anemia, cognition, dementia, haemoglobin",

author = "Bashir, \{Mohammed t\} and Chris Mcneil and Usman Rasul and Alison Murray",

note = "We are grateful to the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS) participants, the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s (ACONF), and Walker subset of GS:SFHS who have taken part in the STratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally (STRADL) study. We also thank the families of the participants and the wider GS:SFHS and STRADL project teams. We also are thankful to the Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre for their support and guidance in carrying out this project.",

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N1 - We are grateful to the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS) participants, the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s (ACONF), and Walker subset of GS:SFHS who have taken part in the STratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally (STRADL) study. We also thank the families of the participants and the wider GS:SFHS and STRADL project teams. We also are thankful to the Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre for their support and guidance in carrying out this project.

PY - 2022/2/1

Y1 - 2022/2/1

N2 - Introduction Haemoglobin concentrations decrease with age. Abnormally low and high haemoglobin concentrations are associated with reduced cognition; however, the evidence for these associations in cohort data is limited. This study aims to assess the relationship between haemoglobin concentration and cognition in a well-characterised cohort of older adults. Methods Two hundred and fifty-two healthy participants were drawn from the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s cohort, aged between 59 to 65 years. Participants underwent cognitive tests of processing speed, memory, verbal and nonverbal reasoning, and language ability and these were used to construct a global cognitive score, g, using principal component analysis. Haemoglobin concentration in the blood was measured concurrently. Hierarchical multiple regression models were constructed assessing the relationship between haemoglobin concentration and each cognitive measure and these were corrected for age, sex, education, C-reactive protein, hypertension, and body mass index. Results Significant linear association between haemoglobin concentration and nonverbal reasoning demonstrated that low haemoglobin levels are associated with lower scores. A quadratic relationship was found for haemoglobin concentration and immediate memory scores in which low and high haemoglobin levels were associated with lower scores. Conclusions Haemoglobin concentration was found to have a significant linear association with nonverbal reasoning scores and a significant quadratic association with memory scores. The results from this study help to understand the association between haemoglobin and different aspects of cognition.

AB - Introduction Haemoglobin concentrations decrease with age. Abnormally low and high haemoglobin concentrations are associated with reduced cognition; however, the evidence for these associations in cohort data is limited. This study aims to assess the relationship between haemoglobin concentration and cognition in a well-characterised cohort of older adults. Methods Two hundred and fifty-two healthy participants were drawn from the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s cohort, aged between 59 to 65 years. Participants underwent cognitive tests of processing speed, memory, verbal and nonverbal reasoning, and language ability and these were used to construct a global cognitive score, g, using principal component analysis. Haemoglobin concentration in the blood was measured concurrently. Hierarchical multiple regression models were constructed assessing the relationship between haemoglobin concentration and each cognitive measure and these were corrected for age, sex, education, C-reactive protein, hypertension, and body mass index. Results Significant linear association between haemoglobin concentration and nonverbal reasoning demonstrated that low haemoglobin levels are associated with lower scores. A quadratic relationship was found for haemoglobin concentration and immediate memory scores in which low and high haemoglobin levels were associated with lower scores. Conclusions Haemoglobin concentration was found to have a significant linear association with nonverbal reasoning scores and a significant quadratic association with memory scores. The results from this study help to understand the association between haemoglobin and different aspects of cognition.

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KW - anemia

KW - cognition

KW - dementia

KW - haemoglobin

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M3 - Article

SN - 2168-8184

VL - 14

JO - Cureus

JF - Cureus

IS - 2

M1 - e21806

ER -

Haemoglobin Concentration and Cognitive Ability in the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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