Fig. 3
Hub metabolite results. Heatmap showing relationships between key hub metabolites (pFDR < 0.05) and brain imaging outcomes in the basic model (model 1) and final model (model 3), as well as relationships between these metabolites and Alzheimer’s disease polygenic risk scores (best threshold shown). The basic model was adjusted for age, sex, blood clinic location, and APOE genotype, and the final model additionally for BMI, lipid medication use, childhood cognitive ability, educational attainment, and SEP (parental and midlife). Tiles are coloured by effect direction (blue = associated with better outcomes, red = associated with worse outcomes). Effect sizes are presented inside the tiles. Associations significant after multiple testing correction are represented by a solid fill and nominal (p < 0.05) by a fainter fill. Metabolites are organised by both module (indicated via the colour panel on the right) and pathway (specified next to the module colour panel). Metabolite names in bold were additionally associated with a cognitive outcome in our previous analysis. Data for all models (1-3) are present in Supplementary Table 1. AD, Alzheimer’s disease; DMTPA, 2,3 dihydroxy-5-methylthio-4-pentenoic acid; NSHD, National Survey of Health and Development; PRS, polygenic risk score