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Serum -tocopherol, concurrent and past vitamin E intake, and mild cognitive impairment

From New England Research Institutes, Watertown, MA (J.E.D., A.M.S.); and Northwestern University Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Chicago, IL (S.W., S.B.).

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Julie E. Dunn, New England Research Institutes, c/o NERI, 9 Galen St., Watertown, MA; e-mail: jdunn{at}neriscience.com

Objectives: Associations of past dietary vitamin E intake, past and current vitamin E supplement use, and current serum -tocopherol levels, with memory (amnestic) and mixed-domain cognitive impairment in older women, ascertained from an in-depth neuropsychological assessment, were explored.

Methods: This analysis used baseline data from 526 participants in a single-site ancillary study to the Women's Health Initiative, the Cognitive Change in Women study.

Results: In bivariate analyses, neither past dietary vitamin E intake (<8 mg/day vs more) nor current vitamin E supplement use was associated with impairment. Women who did not use vitamin E supplements at Women's Health Initiative baseline had an increased risk of mixed-domain impairment (odds ratio [OR] 1.88; 95% CI 1.09 to 3.23). This association lost significance when adjusting for age, education, American National Adult Reading Test (ANART) score, and time between measurement of past vitamin E use and cognitive testing. Concurrent serum -tocopherol had significant cross-sectional associations with both memory and mixed impairments, with women in the lowest quartile of serum -tocopherol nearly twice as likely to show signs of memory (1.92; 1.24 to 2.97) and mixed-domain (2.01; 1.13 to 3.57) impairments. In multivariable models adjusting for age, education, and ANART score, the lowest quartile of serum -tocopherol was associated with increased odds of memory impairment (OR 2.02; 1.27 to 3.20) and mixed impairments (OR 2.00; 1.04 to 3.85). Additional adjustment for APOE e4 did not affect these results.

Conclusion: There was weak or no evidence of a protective effect of previous vitamin E intake on cognitive function. However, the association of low concurrent serum -tocopherol with memory and mixed impairment merits further exploration.

This study was funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging (#AG18695; P30AG-13854). The Women's Health Initiative program is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, US Department of Health and Human Services.

Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Received April 21, 2006. Accepted in final form November 8, 2006.

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