Maintaining heart health may protect against cognitive decline

May, 2020

Data from 1,588 dementia-free older adults (average age 79.5) from the very long-running Rush Memory and Aging Project found that a higher cardiovascular risk burden was associated with faster decline in episodic memory, working memory and perceptual speed. It didn’t significantly affect semantic memory or visuospatial ability.

Cardiovascular risk was assessed using the Framingham General Cardiovascular Risk Scores (FGCRS).

Brain scans for some of these participants also found that higher FGCRS was associated with smaller volumes of hippocampus, cortical gray matter and total brain, and a greater volume of white matter hyperintensities. Decreases in hippocampal and gray matter are typical markers of Alzheimer’s.

Episodic memory and working memory were related to hippocampal volume, but perceptual speed was associated with white matter hyperintensities.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/acoc-mhh051420.php

Song, R., Xu, H., Dintica, C. S., Pan, K.-Y., Qi, X., Buchman, A. S., Bennett, D. A., & Xu, W. (2020). Associations Between Cardiovascular Risk, Structural Brain Changes, and Cognitive Decline. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 75(20), 2525–2534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2020.03.053

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