Associations of Midlife Vascular Risk Factors With Late-Life Depressive Symptoms: Findings From the ARIC Study.

Authors

Sylee Kanetkar, Valerie N Morrill, Marco T Egle, Keenan A Walker, Andrea L C Schneider, Matthew E Peters, Thomas H Mosley, Srishti Shrestha, Rebecca F Gottesman

Published in

Journal of the American Heart Association. Pages e049924. Jul 17, 2026. Epub Jul 17, 2026.

Abstract

The impact of midlife vascular health, which is strongly linked with other aspects of brain health, on late-life depression is not well understood. We examined the associations of midlife vascular risk factors (VRFs), and the burden of these factors, with late-life depressive symptoms (LLDSs).
Individuals from the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study, a population-based prospective study, were evaluated with 5 in-person visits from 1987 to 1989 (visit 1) through 2011 to 2013 (visit 5). Presence of midlife VRFs at visit 1 (smoking, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and hypercholesterolemia) or midlife VRF burden (0, 1, 2, or ≥3 VRFs) were evaluated. LLDSs were defined by a Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale score ≥9 at visit 5. Multivariable logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, race-center, apolipoprotein E ε4 carrier status, and education.
Among 6198 participants, at midlife (median age, 51 years; 59% women; 22% Black individuals), 20.2% had 0 VRFs, 41.3% had 1, 27.2% had 2, and 11.3% had ≥3 VRFs. In a combined model, midlife smoking (odds ratio [OR], 1.68 [95% CI, 1.33-2.13]), diabetes (OR, 1.42 [95% CI, 1.00-2.00]), hypertension (OR, 1.29 [95% CI, 1.03-1.62]), and obesity (OR, 1.51 [95% CI, 1.21-1.90]) were each independently associated with LLDSs. Compared with individuals with 0 VRFs in midlife, individuals with 2 (OR, 1.69 [95% CI, 1.21-2.36]) or ≥3 (OR, 2.34 [95% CI, 1.62-3.40]) VRFs had greater odds of LLDSs.
Midlife VRFs, and the burden of these factors, were associated with LLDS. Midlife vascular health may be a potential target for prevention of depression in later life.

PMID:
42466512
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 17 Jul 2026.

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