Heart Disease May Influence Dementia

(July 24, 2008) - People with heart disease (Read about "Coronary Heart Disease") face a number of problems. One of them may be an increased risk of developing dementia (Read about "Dementia") down the road. Coronary heart disease is associated with a worse performance in mental processes such as reasoning, vocabulary and verbal fluency, according to a study of 5837 middle-aged civil servants. The study also found that the longer ago the heart disease had been diagnosed, the worse was the person's cognitive performance and this effect was particularly marked in men.

The study is published online in the European Heart Journal. The authors say it is important because impaired cognition predicts the onset of dementia and death, while coronary heart disease (CHD) remains the leading cause of death in many western countries

"It is important to elucidate the link between these two diseases," said Dr Archana Singh-Manoux, who led the research. "The prevalence of dementia rises with age, doubling every four to five years after the age of 60, so that over a third of people older than 80 are likely to have dementia.

"The major risk factors for CHD are cigarette smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. (Read about "Quit Smoking" "Diabetes" "Cholesterol" "Hypertension: High Blood Pressure") All of these are modifiable, and smoking, diet and physical exercise are key targets for prevention. Our results on the link between CHD and cognition underline the importance of these preventive measures by highlighting the impact of these risk factors not only on CHD but also on people's cognitive functioning."

The researchers assessed CHD events, including non-fatal myocardial infarction and definite angina. (Read about "Heart Attack" "Angina") The date of the cognitive testing was used to classify the first CHD event as having occurred within the last five years, between five to ten years ago, or over ten years ago.

They found that among both men and women a history of CHD was associated with lower scores for reasoning, vocabulary and their global cognitive status, when compared to people who had no CHD history. In women, these effects were also seen for verbal fluency.