Improving heart health: reducing the risk of stroke and dementia
A good heart health promotes better brain health and may help Risk for stroke and dementia to reduce. But is it ever too late to change anything? New research suggests the answer is no.
The study, published in the journalStroke‘ found that improvement in heart health at midlife and beyond about two decades later was associated with lower prevalence of stroke and dementia risk factors.
Even small improvements have an effect
“Even small improvements can actually make an impact”the study’s lead author, Sanaz Sedaghat, an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said in a statement communication quoted by the American Heart Association (AHA).
Same risk factors
A wealth of research shows that the same risk factors that contribute to heart disease—such as being overweight, lack of physical activity, or high blood pressure – also contribute to cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke and dementia.
However, there is less data on how midlife changes in cardiovascular health and beyond increase a person’s risk for cerebrovascular disease Alter can influence.
In the study, the researchers used health data of 1,638 participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, surveyed twice in midlife (mean age 53 and 59) and once in late life (mean age 76).
At each visit, cardiovascular health scores were calculated using the American Heart Association’s “Life’s Simple 7,” a collection of factorswhich have a major impact on heart and brain health.
These include diet, physical activity, weight, tobacco use, cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose levels. The data was collected before the AHA closed in 2022 Sleep as an important factor in cardiovascular health and changed the name to Life’s Essential 8.
Participants received up to two points for each of the seven factors, depending on their compliance with the targets was poor, fair, or ideal for each factor.
Identified during visit in late life brain scans Markers of cerebrovascular disease, including white matter hyperintensity volume, microbleeds, and infarction or cell death throughout the brain. These markers signal an increased risk of stroke or dementia.
“37% less likely to have heart attacks”
People with higher cardiovascular health scores in the midlife and late in life or whose levels increased in midlife and from then into old age had a lower prevalence of cerebrovascular disease markers. Every one point increase in the score reduced the overall risk of cerebrovascular damage by about seven percent.
“For me, the interesting thing is that even a point has a big Difference power,” says Sedaghat.
The study did not examine how improvements impacted cerebrovascular damage in individual components of the score. However, it was examined how changes in overall cardiovascular health affected some of the individual elements of cerebrovascular health.
For example, those who maintained ideal cardiovascular health from midlife — who had the highest scores — “a 33% lower likelihood of microbleeds in the brain and a 37% lower chance of heart attacks”compared to people whose scores decreased, explains Sedaghat .
“You can prevent a lot of brain damage by doing these Measures for good cardiovascular health”, according to Dr. Vladimir Hachinski, University Professor of Clinical Neurological Sciences at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. “And you can see the results here.”
Reduce risk of brain damage
Hachinski, a pioneer in the field of stroke and vascular dementia research who wasn’t involved in the new study, says he’s not surprised to see that improving cardiovascular health overall reduces the risk of certain types of brain damage could lower.
He would like to see follow-up studies that delve deeper into which components of heart health have the greatest impact brain health have. “The next important step is to look at which of these have the strongest relationships.”
The results add to mounting evidence pointing to the need for stronger Cooperation between cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease professionals, says Hachinski.
When heart disease, stroke and dementia all develop from the same risk factors, “It only makes sense that we would together impede.” (ad)