Over a third of incident dementia cases may be linked to cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs), reported a recent study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia. The researchers behind the study suggest that new cases of dementia could be curbed by controlling CMDs.
Around 6.7 million Americans aged 65 and older live with Alzheimer’s disease, a figure which could increase to 13.8 million by 2060. Previous research has shown that CMDs, including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, heart disease, and stroke, have been individually identified as dementia risk factors. Few studies, however, have examined their combined effect.
In the current study, researchers examined the individual and cumulative effects of eight CMD’s on dementia risk. CMDs included diabetes, chronic heart failure, atrial fibrillation, ischemic heart disease, acute myocardial infarction, stroke/transient ischemic attack, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia.
To do so, they analyzed a nationwide, population-based Medicare data set including 20.8 million beneficiaries aged between 67 and 110 years old, of whom 756,000 had dementia and 20 million served as controls. In the end, they found that 37% of dementia cases in the US could be linked to one of the analyzed conditions, with hypertension, ischemic heart disease and chronic heart failure emerging as the leading causes, attributable for 9.6%, 6.7%, and 5.7% of cases.
“A substantial number of dementia cases could be eliminated by mitigating modifiable cardiometabolic risk factors, especially in U.S. counties with a high risk of dementia attributed to these risk factors. More realistically, a 15 percent proportional reduction in these risk factors would reduce incident dementia cases in the population by an estimated 6.3 percent,” said study author, Brad Racette, MD, Chair of Neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute, in a press release.
The study also investigated which areas in the US have the highest dementia burden attributable to CMDs. They found that the link between CMDs and dementia was strongest in the South and weaker in the Pacific Northwest, Great Plains, and the Rocky Mountains compared to other regions.
“Regional variation in dementia burden can be explained partially by the disproportionate concentration of obesity, lack of physical activity, and unhealthy diet among those living in Southern states,” said Dr. Racette.
Sources: EurekAlert, Alzheimer’s & Dementia