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Dementia, so diabetes and hypertension increase the risk

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Dementia, so diabetes and hypertension increase the risk

The risk of dementia increases with age, but for some more than others. And it’s not just about genetics. Thus, for those with diabetes and hypertension at age 55 (or a little more), the risk of developing a form of dementia in the next ten years can be four times higher than that of their peers. On the other hand, it can be almost double if you are 65 years old and live with heart disease, and even higher if you have diabetes and a history of stroke at 70. This was revealed by a study by the National University of Ireland Galway published in Neurologythe journal of the American Academy of Neurology, which identified the most important vascular factors to include in age-specific dementia risk scores.

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But what do diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke have to do with dementia? More than you can imagine. They can, in fact, increase the chances of a brain degeneration, therefore memory loss, mood and personality changes, language deficits, difficulty in carrying out daily actions and depression. The results of the new study could therefore help predict the risk of developing the disease with a higher degree of accuracy, and – not secondary – to keep under control the factors that over the years could increase the chances of developing it.

I study

The participants came from the Framingham Heart Study, a large American epidemiological survey on the risk of cardiovascular disease, which initially included 4,899 people aged 55, then became 2,386 considering the data available at the age of 80. Risk factors were measured in five time phases between middle and late age, then at 55 years and then at 65, 70, 75 and 80 years. “We started the ten-year follow-up on dementia starting from each age, with the exception of 55 years due to a negligible number of cases of dementia – he explains to LabRevolution Emer R. McGrath of the National University of Ireland Galway, member of the American Academy of Neurology and author of the study: “We carried out periodic check-ups and neuropsychological tests up to the age of 80, associating the Framingham Stroke Risk Profile (a measure that takes into account age, of sex and various risk factors, ed.) to the risk of dementia at 10 years. We were thus able to identify the most important age-specific vascular predictors ”.

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What was discovered

Well, for those who were diabetic or hypertensive at 55, the chances of developing a form of dementia in the next ten years were higher than those of healthy peers. Specifically, the risk was four times greater for those with diabetes, and increased by about 12% with each 10-point increase in systolic blood pressure in hypertensive patients. For those who had cardiovascular disease at the age of 65, the chances of experiencing dementia were almost double compared to those who had not had this type of disease at the same age. While for 80-year-olds with diabetes or a stroke, and accustomed to using antidepressants, the researchers calculated a 40% to 60% higher risk of contracting the disease (note that those who had taken hypertension medications had somewhat reduced the risk).

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These results – underline the researchers – should include these factors in the age-specific dementia risk scores: diabetes and systolic blood pressure in the 55-year-old range; cardiovascular disease in that of the 65s; diabetes and stroke in the age of 70 and 75; and diabetes, stroke, and antidepressant use in the 80s. “The results of our study support age-specific risk prediction scores in lieu of a one-size-fits-all approach,” comments McGrath.

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The study has a limit: it involved mostly Caucasian participants. The results, therefore, could be completely different or even not valid for different ethnic groups. In fact, further research will also be needed on the other groups, in particular on those known to be at greater risk of vascular disease.

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