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Risk Factors for Heart Disease Appear to be Same for
Dementia
High cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes and smoking:
the four evils for Alzheimer's and heart trouble.
Jan. 24, 2005 - High cholesterol, hypertension,
diabetes and smoking have long been considered and aggressively
treated as risk factors for cardiovascular disease. These same
cardiovascular risk factors in middle age may also increase
significantly the risk of dementia in old age, according to Kaiser
Permanente researchers.
Those with all four risk factors had a 2.37 times
greater risk of being diagnosed with dementia, according to lead
investigator Rachel A.Whitmer, PhD, a researcher with the Kaiser
Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California.
Compared to those with no risk factors, those with
two of the risk factors were 1.7 times more likely to be diagnosed with
dementia.
Those with three risk factors were more than twice
as likely to be found with dementia.
"The message is that the risk factors that are bad
for the heart are bad for the brain," Dr. Marilyn Albert, chair of
scientific and medical research at the nonprofit Alzheimer's Association
told Reuters. "That largely is because what happens to blood vessels in
the heart is same as what happens to blood vessels in the brain," added
Albert, whose group was not involved in the study. (Reuters
story)
Treating risk factors for heart disease may also
reduce the risk for dementia, said Whitmer. And earlier treatment may
have an even greater benefit by virtue of the cumulative effect of
longer exposure to protective therapies, she said.
Each of these four cardiovascular CV risk factors
identified at mid-life (age 40 to 44) was associated with a 20 to 40
percent increased risk of dementia in later life.
Those with diabetes were 46 percent more
likely than those without diabetes to develop dementia.
Similarly, those with high total cholesterol
were 42 percent more likely.
Those with hypertension were 24 percent more
likely.
Participants who reported ever smoking at
mid-life were 26 percent more likely to develop dementia.
The effects of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors on
risk of dementia were the same across race and gender groups.
While previous studies have reported an association
between individual CV risk factors and dementia, whether these risk
factors in mid-life are associated with risk of dementia in older age
had not been thoroughly investigated. The real strength of our study is
the large, multiethnic cohort of mid-life men and women, followed for an
average of 27 years, all with equal access to medical care, said
Whitmer.
The study, of nearly 9,000 northern Californians,
appears in the January 25 issue of Neurology, the scientific
journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Researchers studied records for Kaiser Permanente
Northern California members who underwent health evaluations from 1964
to 1973 when they were between the ages of 40 and 44. Diagnoses of
dementia were also obtained from inpatient and outpatient medical
records.
Additional researchers include Stephen Sidney, MD,
MPH, associate director for clinical research, Division of Research,
Kaiser Permanente Northern California; Joseph Selby, MD, MPH, director
of the Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California; S.
Claiborne Johnston, MD, PhD, UCSF associate professor of neurology and
epidemiology; and Kristine Yaffe, MD, UCSF associate professor of
psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology. This study was funded by a grant
from the National Institutes of Health.
SOURCE: Kaiser Permanente, founded in 1945, is a
non-profit integrated health care organization, with physicians, nurses
and staff working in collaboration to provide high quality care to
patients and address the health care needs of communities served by the
organization. The Kaiser Permanente Northern California Region serves
almost 3.2 million members. It includes 5,000 physicians in The
Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) and about 54,000 employees. The region
has 19 major medical centers. Each year, Kaiser Permanente donates about
$300 million to a variety of community programs and agencies in Northern
California.
http://www.kaiserpermanente.org
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