Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
Senior Citizens
with High Levels of ‘Good’ Cholesterol at Lower Risk of Alzheimer’s
About 1% of senior citizens age 65-69 have Alzheimer’s,
increases to 60% over age 95, but study says high HDL cholesterol
signals decreased risk of possible Alzheimer's
Dec. 13, 2010 - High levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), also
known as the "good" cholesterol, appear to be associated with a reduced
risk for Alzheimer's disease in older adults, according to a report in
the December issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives
journals.
|
|
Related Stories |
|
|
|
Regular Consumption
of High Cholesterol Diet May Lead to Alzheimer’s Disease
 New study used
rats to show brain damage produced from 5% cholesterol-enriched diet
Nov. 24, 2010
When Nut Consumption Goes Up, Cholesterol Level Goes
Down, Heart Health Improves
 Blood cholesterol levels improve after eating nuts:
bad cholesterol drops 7.4%, ratio improves 8.3%, 5.1% drop in total
cholesterol
May 10, 2010
Sugar May Be Culprit in Senior Citizens Losing
Battle Against Cholesterol, Triglyceride
 JAMA report: increased sugars associated with
‘important cardiovascular disease risk factors,’ lower HDL-C, higher
triglyceride, higher triglycerides to HDL-C - Watch video.
April 20, 2010
Read the latest news on
Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health |
|
"Dyslipidemia
(high total cholesterol and triglycerides) and late-onset Alzheimer's
disease are highly frequent in western societies," the authors note in
background information in the article.
"More than 50 percent of the U.S. adult population has high cholesterol.
About 1 percent of people age 65 to 69 years develop Alzheimer's
disease, and the prevalence increases to more than 60 percent for people
older than 95 years."
Christiane Reitz, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at Columbia University's
Taub Institute, New York, studied 1,130 older adults to examine the
association of blood lipid (fat) levels with Alzheimer's disease. The
study included a random sampling of Medicare recipients 65 or older
residing in northern Manhattan, with no history of dementia or cognitive
impairment.
The researchers defined higher levels of HDL cholesterol as 55
milligrams per deciliter or more.
To
determine this association, data were collected from medical,
neurological and neuropsychological evaluations. Additionally, the
authors assigned a diagnosis of "probable" Alzheimer's disease when
onset of dementia could not be explained by any other disorder.
A
diagnosis of "possible" Alzheimer's disease was made when the most
likely cause of dementia was Alzheimer's disease but there were other
disorders that could contribute to the dementia, such as stroke or
Parkinson disease.
During the course of follow-up, there were 101 new cases of Alzheimer's
disease, of which 89 were probable and 12 were possible. The mean
(average) age of individuals at the onset of probable and possible
Alzheimer's disease was 83 years, and compared with people who were not
diagnosed with incident Alzheimer's disease, those who did develop
dementia were more often Hispanic and had a higher prevalence of
diabetes at the start of the study.
Higher plasma levels of HDL cholesterol were associated with a decreased
risk of both probable and possible Alzheimer's disease, even after
adjusting for vascular risk factors and lipid-lowering treatments.
Although higher plasma total cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol and LDL
cholesterol levels also were associated with decreased risks of probable
and possible Alzheimer's disease, these associations became
non-significant after adjusting for vascular risk factors and
lipid-lowering treatments.
"In this study, higher levels of HDL cholesterol were associated with a
decreased risk of both probable and possible Alzheimer's disease," the
authors conclude.
"An important consideration in the interpretation of the results is that
it was conducted in an urban multiethnic elderly community with a high
prevalence of risk factors for mortality and dementia. Thus, our results
may not be generalizeable to cohorts with younger individuals or to
cohorts with participants with a lower morbidity (disease) burden."
The study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging,
the Charles S. Robertson Memorial Gift for Research in Alzheimer's
Disease and the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Foundation.
