Helicobacter pylori, herpes simplex virus-1, varicella-zoster virus, and dementia risk.
Littlejohns TJ., Liu W., Brayne C., Butt J., Collister JA., Forouhi NG., Gkrania-Klotsas E., Hayat S., Jeffery K., Kuźma E., Luben RN., Mentzer AJ., Parsonnet J., Wareham N., Waterboer T., Hunter DJ.
IntroductionHelicobacter pylori (H. pylori), herpes simplex-1 (HSV-1), and varicella-zoster virus (VZV) could increase dementia risk; however, evidence from large cohorts with long-term follow-up is scarce.MethodsMultivariable-adjusted Cox proportional-hazards models were used to investigate the association between H. pylori, HSV-1, and VZV seropositivity and dementia risk over 24 years in 8550 participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer in Norfolk study in the United Kingdom.ResultsH. pylori (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.24, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.09 to 1.41), but not HSV-1 (HR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.91 to 1.18) or VZV (HR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.86 to 1.19), was associated with dementia risk. The H. pylori-dementia association remained robust among incident cases >15 years after blood draw (HR = 1.26, 95% CI: 1.06 to 1.48). Seropositive tertiles of the H. pylori antibodies CagA (p = 0.007) and GroEL (p = 0.001) demonstrated significant trends with dementia risk.DiscussionH. pylori may represent a novel dementia prevention target, although early-life socioeconomic factors might confound the association.