Hip Bone Marrow Adiposity as a Risk Factor for Alzheimer's Disease: Insights From Mendelian Randomization Analysis

The bone-brain axis has emerged as a critical framework linking skeletal metabolism to neurodegeneration. Within this axis, bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT) represents a unique fat depot with distinct endocrine and hematopoietic functions, yet its contribution to Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains unclear.

We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis using genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics to assess the causal effects of six fat depots-abdominal subcutaneous, visceral, spinal, femoral head, total hip, and femoral diaphysis fat-on AD risk. Mediation analysis was further performed to evaluate whether femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) mediates these associations.

Among the six depots, only total hip BMAT showed a significant causal association with AD risk (OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.09-1.51, p = 0.003). Total hip BMAT was inversely related to femoral neck BMD (β = -0.43, 95% CI: -0.61 to -0.24, p < 0.001), whereas no causal relationship was detected between BMD and AD (OR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.89-1.15, p = 0.849), excluding bone loss as a mediator.

This study provides the first genetic evidence that excessive hip BMAT increases the risk of AD, supporting the bone-brain axis hypothesis. These findings highlight BMAT as a novel target for understanding and potentially preventing AD.