Edinburgh Research Explorer Association of allostatic load with brain structure and cognitive ability in later life

cognitive ability (range b ¼ (cid:2) 0.13 to (cid:2) 0.20), processing speed ( (cid:2) 0.20 to (cid:2) 0.22), and knowledge ( (cid:2) 0.18 to (cid:2) 0.20) but not memory or nonverbal reasoning. The associations of AL with cognitive abilities were not mediated by these brain volume measures. AL did not predict cognitive change from age 11 to approximately age 73. The fi ndings suggest a link between AL and later life brain health and cognitive functioning. (cid:1) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).