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Dietary copper intake may be associated with cognitive decline and dementia. We used data from 10,269 participants of the Atherosclerosis Risks in Communities Study to study the associations of dietary copper intake with 20-year cognitive decline and incident dementia. Dietary copper intake from food and supplements was quantified using food frequency questionnaires. Cognition was assessed using 3 cognitive tests at study visits; dementia was ascertained at study visits and via surveillance. Multiple imputation by chained equations was applied to account for the missing information of cognitive function during follow-up. Survival analysis with parametric models and mixed-effect models were used to estimate the associations for incident dementia and cognitive decline, respectively. During 20 years of follow-up (1996–1998 to 2016–2017), 1,862 incident cases of dementia occurred. Higher intake of dietary copper from food was associated with higher risk of incident dementia among those with high intake of saturated fat (hazard ratio = 1.49, 95% confidence interval: 1.04, 1.95). Higher intake of dietary copper from food was associated with greater decline in language overall (beta = −0.12, 95% confidence interval: −0.23, −0.02). Therefore, a diet high in copper, particularly when combined with a diet high in saturated fat, may increase the risk of cognitive impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac autonomic activity, as assessed by heart rate variability, has been found to be associated with postmyocardial infarction mortality, sudden death, and all-cause mortality. However, the association of heart rate variability and the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) is not well described. The authors report on the association of baseline cardiac autonomic activity (1987–1989) with incident CHD after 3 years (1990–1992) of follow-up of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study cohort selected from four study centers in the United States by using a case-cohort design. The authors examined 137 incident cases of CHD and a stratified random sample of 2, 252 examinees free of CHD at baseline. Baseline, supine, resting beat-to-beat heart rate data were collected. High- (0.16–0.35 Hz) and low- (0.025–0.15 Hz) frequency spectral powers and high-/low-frequency power ratio, estimated from spectral analysis, and standard deviation of all normal R-R intervals, calculated from time domain analysis, were used as the conventional indices of cardiac parasym-pathetic, sympatho-parasympathetic, and their balance, respectively. Incident CHD was defined sis hospitalized myocardial infarction, fatal CHD, or cardiac revascularization procedures during 3 years of follow-up. The age, race, gender, and other CHD risk factor-adjusted relative risks (and 95% confidence intervals) of incident CHD comparing the lowest quartile with the upper three quartiles of high-frequency power, low-frequency power, high-/low-frequency power ratio, and standard deviation of R-R intervals were 1.72 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.17–2.51), 1.09 (95% CI 0.72–1.64), 1.25 (95% CI 0.84–1.86), and 1.39 (95% CI 0.94–2.04), respectively. The findings from this population-based, prospective study suggest that altered cardiac autonomic activity, especially lower parasympathetic activity, is associated with the risk of developing CHD. Am J Epidemiol 1997; 145: 696–706. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]