Fig. 1

Associations of 23 inflammatory biomarkers with cognition, estimated by linear mixed models, WHICAP (n = 1743). The figure displays the effect estimates for the associations of continuous inflammatory biomarkers with cognitive z-scores at baseline (Panel A) and cognitive decline (Panel B) over the 12-year follow-up. The trajectories of change in cognition were estimated using linear mixed models across up to 6 repeated neurocognitive examinations. Models consider a linear function of time, with corresponding random effect, and include an intercept representing the cognitive z-score at baseline (and corresponding random effect), inflammatory markers (continuous, log-transformed and standardized), covariates (age, gender, race/ethnicity, status for ɛ4 allele of the apolipoprotein E gene, and indicator for first cognitive assessment), and their interactions with time. The estimate for baseline association (Panel A) is the coefficient for the inflammatory markers variable term; and the estimate for cognitive decline (Panel B) is the coefficient for the biomarker-by-time interaction term. Effect estimates (β coefficients and 95% confidence intervals) are reported for 1-SD increase in log-transformed biomarker value. Significant associations are indicated by an asterisk: * for p-value < 0.05, ** for p-value < 0.01, and *** for p-value < 0.05 after False Discovery Rate correction for multiple testing.