Dementia linked to heart disease in middle-aged people

New research has revealed that middle aged people with heart disease risks are more likely to develop dementia later in life.

The study, presented this week at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference, began in 1987 and included more than 15,000 people in four U.S. communities.

“The health of your vascular system in midlife is really important to the health of your brain when you are older,” said Rebecca F. Gottesman, MD, PhD, an associate professor of neurology and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, in a statement.

Study results showed that participants who had diabetes, high blood pressure or smoked when they were 45 to 64 years old had a significant impact on their likelihood of developing dementia as they aged. Overall, 1,516 people developed the disease.

The risk of developing dementia was 41 percent higher in midlife smokers than in non-smokers or former smokers, 39 percent higher in middle-aged individuals with high blood pressure and 31 percent higher in people with pre-hypertension compared to those with normal blood pressure. The risk was also 77 percent higher in people with diabetes.

“Diabetes raises the risk almost as much as the most important known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease,” Gottesman said.

Additionally, the risk of dementia was 11 percent lower in women, but was highest among black individuals, those with less education or carried a gene that increases the chance of developing Alzheimer’s.