A study published in the journal “Neurology Open Access” analyzed long-term health data to determine how cardiovascular health in middle age affects brain function decades later, reports “Fox News”.
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Reducing these three common cardiovascular risk factors from ages 48 to 68 can significantly delay cognitive decline, research shows.
“Our findings indicate that people need to actively avoid these factors in middle age – this is a strategy aimed at preserving brain health for more than a decade,” said Dr. Joseph Coresh, the study’s senior investigator and founder of the Optimal Aging Institute at NYU Langone, in a press release. He emphasized the importance of identifying effective ways to halt memory loss and highlighted that about 42% of Americans are projected to face dementia by age 55.
The analyzed data came from the “Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities” study – a longitudinal study started in 1986. It included more than 12,000 dementia-free participants with an average age of 56. After assessing participants’ smoking habits, blood pressure levels, and presence of diabetes, researchers monitored their health changes for an average of 26 years.
By the end of the observation period, dementia developed in 3,008 participants, while 5,238 died without cognitive impairment. The study revealed a significant difference depending on middle-age health status: participants with none of the three risk factors lived an average of 30 years dementia-free after initial assessments. Meanwhile, those with all three risk factors lived only about 17 years on average before developing dementia or dying.
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Demographic trends were identified by gender and race. Female participants had a longer period of cognitive health than males, despite health risks. Among those with all three risk factors, women lived an average of 18.1 years dementia-free compared to 16.6 years for men. White participants with all three risk factors lived an average of 19.6 years dementia-free, while Black participants with the same health status lived an average of 16.0 years.
“These results suggest that reducing vascular risk can benefit all groups, but targeted prevention efforts may be especially beneficial for certain populations, such as Black adults,” said J. Coresh, expressing hope that the data will encourage people to quit smoking and monitor cardiovascular health from their late 40s.
The authors noted several limitations of their findings, including that the observational nature of the study cannot prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship. Additionally, health status was recorded at a single visit, and some possible lifestyle changes in middle age were not reported.
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