As new research is undertaken, it is becoming clear that many diseases are linked to one another. One of the recent topics that has become of interest is the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and if they play a role in developing Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and other cognitive declines. These risk factors are smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity.

A just-concluded study suggests that a fast-paced accumulation of these risk factors causes an increased risk of developing vascular dementia or Alzheimer’s disease dementia.

Details of the Study

The study involves 1,244 people with an average age of 55 whose cardiovascular health and memory were healthy at the onset of the research. These participants filled out lifestyle questionnaires every 5 years while the researchers conducted memory tests and health examinations on them at the same interval for 25 years.

The risk of developing cardiovascular disease was calculated using the Framingham Risk Score. This score uses age, sex, blood pressure, smoking habits, diabetes (if present), and Body Mass Index to present the risk of cardiovascular disease within 10 years. More details on the result of the study can be found here.

Observations from the Study

Several observations were recorded while the study lasted and at the end of it, which we have outlined below.

• 3% of the population (39 participants) developed dementia from vascular disease, while 6% (78 participants) developed Alzheimer’s disease dementia.
• Participants started the study with a 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease between 17% and 23%. This remained the same in about 274 participants, increased moderately in 746 participants, and spiked quickly in 224 participants
• The 274 participants with a stable 10-year risk had their risk rate at 20% while the 746 who saw a moderate increase in their 10-year risk went from 17% to 38% 10-year risk during the study. The 10-year risk of the last category (224 participants) increased from 23% to 62% while the study lasted

Conclusions from the Study

The researchers came to the following findings from observations made during the study.

• Participants with an accelerated 10-year risk of developing cardiovascular diseases were 3-6 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease dementia than those with a stable 10-year risk. They were also 1.4 times more likely to develop a middle-age decline in memory
• Participants with an accelerated 10-year risk of developing cardiovascular diseases were 3-4 times more likely to develop vascular dementia than those with a stable 10-year risk
• Several other risk factors were higher in participants with an accelerated 10-year risk. This indicates the likelihood that the accumulation of damage from multiple risk factors over the years may be responsible for the acceleration of risk

Bottom Line

The study conducted has shown that there is indeed a relationship between multiple cardiovascular risk factors and the quick increase in the risk of dementia. This makes it necessary to address all the risk factors in an individual to either slow or prevent the onset of dementia rather than focusing on just one of them. This can be done by quitting smoking, exercising to lower the Body Mass Index, and working to lower the blood pressure.

Further research is still needed as this study could not determine if an accelerated risk of cardiovascular disease triggered the decline that leads to dementia.