New research has found a link between vascular health risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension and smoking, and increased dementia risk.
US scientists at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, whose study was published in JAMA Neurology, reported analysed medical data from 7,700 participants in the atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, which ran from 1987-2020 with a 33-year follow-up; participant risk factors were measured at ages 45-54, 55- 64 and 65-74.
The researchers found between 22–44 percent of dementia cases reported by participants by age 80 were attributable to midlife and late- life vascular risk factors.
“That 22-44 percent of population-level dementia risk by 80 years was attributed to at least one vascular risk factor from midlife through early late-life (ages 45-74 years) signals a major prevention gap,” lead author Dr Jason Smith told medicalnewstoday.com.
Clinical and public health interventions targeting vascular risk beginning as early as midlife could delay or prevent a sizable fraction of dementia risk by 80 years.
California vascular surgeon Dr Christopher Yi said this study reinforces an increasingly clear message: vascular health is brain health. He noted: ‘The findings were both striking and practical – nearly half of dementia cases by age 80 could be linked to modifiable vascular risk factors like high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking.
‘It’s especially notable that late-life vascular health appeared even more strongly associated with dementia risk than midlife health, which challenges the idea that ‘it’s too late’ to make a difference after midlife.’
