Having a progressively higher number of midlife vascular risk factors is significantly associated with later development of high levels of brain amyloid deposition, suggest cohort findings from the ongoing Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) trial.

The ARIC-PET [positron emission tomography] Amyloid Imaging Study, which included more than 300 participants aged 45 to 64  years, showed that those who had one vascular risk factor at baseline were more likely than those with no risk factors to have elevated amyloid standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) at follow-up more than 20 years later.

Those with two or more risk factors were more than twice as likely to have high amyloid SUVR. However, the only individual vascular risk factor significantly associated with later amyloid level was an elevated body mass index (BMI).

“Our study emphasizes that middle age is really a critical time during which vascular health should be evaluated,” lead author…