Fig. 1

a Patterns of overweight/obesity change and performance in the verbal memory test (VMT) at age 60–64 years. Data points represent mean number of words recalled and vertical bars indicate 95% CI for each group. O/O@36, O/O@43, O/O@53 and O/O@60–64 = Overweight/obesity since 36, 43, 53 and 60–64 years old, respectively; Never O/O = never overweight/obese; Lost/Non-regain = dropped and did not regain one category of BMI; Lost/Regain = dropped and regained one category of BMI. VMT = Verbal memory test. Results are adjusted for sex, childhood cognition and education, and inverse probability weighting was implemented to account for dropout due to death. Test for trend for O/O@36 to O/O@60–64: p < 0.0001. Pairwise comparison of Never O/O versus Lost/Non-regain (p = 0.9) and Lost/Regained (p = 0.002). Pairwise comparison of O/O@36 versus Lost/Non-regain (p = 0.007) and Lost/Regain (p = 0.9). Adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, PWV and cIMT did not affect these differences. b Patterns of waist circumference (WC) change and performance in the verbal memory test (VMT) at age 60–64 years. Data points represent mean number of words recalled and vertical bars indicate 95% CI for each group. HiWC@36, HiWC@43, HiWC@53 and HiWC@60–64 = elevated WC since 36, 43, 53 and 60–64 years old, respectively; Never HiWC = WC always normal; Lost/Non-regain = dropped and did not regain one category of WC; Lost/Regain = dropped and regained one category of WC. Results are adjusted for sex, childhood cognition and education, and inverse probability weighting was implemented to account for the probability of survival until the end of follow-up. Test for trend for HiWC@36 to HiWC@60–64: p < 0.001. Adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, PWV and cIMT did not affect these differences