Eye health related to brain health in older adults

June, 2012
  • A large, long-running study has found cognitive decline and brain lesions are linked to mild retinal damage in older women.

Damage to the retina (retinopathy) doesn’t produce noticeable symptoms in the early stages, but a new study indicates it may be a symptom of more widespread damage. In the ten-year study, involving 511 older women (average age 69), 7.6% (39) were found to have retinopathy. These women tended to have lower cognitive performance, and brain scans revealed that they had more areas of small vascular damage within the brain — 47% more overall, and 68% more in the parietal lobe specifically. They also had more white matter damage. They did not have any more brain atrophy.

These correlations remained after high blood pressure and diabetes (the two major risk factors for retinopathy) were taken into account. It’s estimated that 40-45% of those with diabetes have retinopathy.

Those with retinopathy performed similarly to those without on a visual acuity test. However, testing for retinopathy is a simple test that should routinely be carried out by an optometrist in older adults, or those with diabetes or hypertension.

The findings suggest that eye screening could identify developing vascular damage in the brain, enabling lifestyle or drug interventions to begin earlier, when they could do most good. The findings also add to the reasons why you shouldn’t ignore pre-hypertensive and pre-diabetic conditions.

Reference: 

Related News

A study in which 64 sedentary older adults (aged 60-88) participated in a 12-week exercise program found that those who engaged in high-intensity interval training (HIIT) saw an improvement of up to 30% in memory performance while participants who engaged in moderate-intensity aerobic exercise s

A study involving 30 previously physically inactive older adults (aged 61-88) found that a three-month exercise program reversed some brain atrophy.

A long-running study following 387 Australian women found that regular exercise in middle age was the best lifestyle change they could make to prevent cognitive decline in their later years.

A large study, involving nearly 14,000 older adults (50+) participating in the 2006 Health and Retirement Study, found that weaker handgrip strength was associated with a greater risk of developing cognitive impairment, especially severe impairment, over the eight-year study period.

Data from the long-running Rush Memory and Aging Project, involving 960 participants who completed a food frequency questionnaire from 2004 to 2013, found that those who ate one daily serving of green, leafy vegetables had a slower rate of cognitive decline than people who rarely or never ate th

A study involving 99 healthy older adults found that levels of monounsaturated fatty acids were associated with cognitive performance and the organization of the brain's attention network.

Data from 915 older adults (mean age 81.4) participating in the very long-running Rush Memory and Aging Project, has found that those who reported eating seafood less than once a week showed greater cognitive decline compared to those who ate at least one seafood meal per week.

Data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, involving 8,574 middle-aged and older adults (aged 45-85), has found that those who ate more vegetables and fruits and more nuts and pulses (such as lentils and beans) scored higher on tests of verbal fluency.

Analysis of data from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) and AREDS2, involving a total of around 8,000 older adults, has found that those with the greatest adherence to the Mediterranean diet had the lowest risk of cognitive impairment.

A 10-year study involving 19,887 middle-aged and older Americans, who completed surveys every two years about their health and lifestyle, has found that those who had a drink or two a day tended to show less cognitive decline, compared to non-drinkers.

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.