Relations of left ventricular mass and hypertrophy to cognitive function in urban dwelling African American and White adults

Abstract

Objective: Evaluate the relations of left ventricular mass (LVM) and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) to cognitive function in midlife adults and examine potential moderating influences of self-identified race and poverty status. Method: Participants were 1,107 African American and White urban-dwelling adults (Mage = 52.19, 60.4% female, 56.5% African American, 34% below 125% of the poverty line) from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span study. Multivariable linear regressions examined up to three-way interactions of LVM (and LVH), race, and poverty status to tests of attention, memory, executive function, verbal abilities, and perceptuo-motor speed. Covariates included demographic variables and cardiovascular disease risk factors. Results: There were no significant three- or two-way interactions of LVM (or LVH), race, or poverty status for any cognitive outcome. Backward elimination identified significant main effects of LVM on the Brief Test of Attention (β = −0.089, p = .010) and Trails Making Test (TMT)-B (β = 0.072, p = .021). Main effects of LVH were significant for the Brief Test of Attention (β = −0.075, p = .017), TMT-B (β = 0.071, p = .012), TMT-A (β = 0.078, p = .009), and Verbal Fluency (β = −0.067, p = .027). Both LVM and LVH were negatively associated with performance. Conclusions: In the presence of nonsignificant interactions, those with higher LVM (and LVH) displayed poorer performance on tests of divided attention, executive function, semantic verbal fluency, and perceptuo-motor speed. Findings may reflect the early emergence of neurocognitive changes associated with elevated cardiovascular risk in this largely middle-aged sample.