Key clinical point: Adults with total cholesterol in the low/normal range may have reduced semantic fluency and lower gray matter volume compared with other individuals.

Major finding: Lower cholesterol was associated with reduced semantic fluency, but no relationship was observed between cognitive performance and total cholesterol in individuals with high cholesterol; groups with total cholesterol below 160 mg/dL also had significantly lower gray matter volume than other groups (P < 0.05).

Study details: The data come from 117 non-demented adults, including 67 with Parkinson’s disease and 50 matched controls.

Disclosures: The study was supported by PPMI, a public–private partnership funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and funding partners including AbbVie, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Biogen Idec, Bristol–Myers Squibb, Covance, Eli Lilly, F. Hoffman–La Roche, GE Healthcare, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Lundbeck, Merck, MesoScale, Piramal, Pfizer, Prevail, and UCB.