Researchers are working hard to find a cure for dementia, and there is hope that they will soon succeed.

Although the risk of cognitive decline increases with age, dementia does not afflict only the elderly.

People who have at least two of the diseases type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or stroke have a double risk of getting dementia, according to a new study.

A study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia reveals that preventing diabetes and cardiovascular disease could be a strategy for lowering dementia risk.

Type 2 diabetes, heart disease (ischemic heart disease, heart failure, or atrial fibrillation), and stroke – all of which are known as cardiometabolic illnesses – are among the leading causes of dementia.

“Few studies have examined how the risk of dementia is affected by having more than one of these diseases simultaneously,” says Abigail Dove, and that’s what they wanted to examine in this research.

Dementia is a long-term illness that takes years to develop. It begins as a slow cognitive decline that is only detected through cognitive tests. It then progresses to cognitive impairment, in which the person knows their memory is deteriorating but can still care for themselves, and lastly to dementia.

Cardiometabolic diseases double risk

The researchers gathered information from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care on 2,500 healthy, dementia-free people over the age of 60 who lived on Stockholm’s Kungsholmen island. Medical records and clinical examinations were used to determine the prevalence of cardiometabolic disorders at the start of the study. The participants were then checked out by doctors and given mental tests for the next twelve years to see if their mental abilities changed or if they got dementia.

Multiple cardiometabolic diseases increased cognitive decline and doubled the chance of cognitive impairment and dementia, hence accelerating their onset by two years. The size of the risk went up as the number of diseases went up.

“In our study, the combinations of diabetes/heart disease and diabetes/heart disease/stroke were the most damaging to cognitive function,” Dove adds.

Second-disease prevention crucial

Individuals with just one cardiometabolic condition, on the other hand, did not have a significantly greater risk of dementia.

“This is good news. The study shows that the risk only increases once someone has at least two of the diseases, so it’s possible that dementia can be averted by preventing the development of a second disease.”

Participants younger than 78 years old showed a greater association between cardiometabolic illnesses and dementia risk.

“We should therefore focus on cardiometabolic disease prevention already in middle age,” Dove adds, “since the risk of cognitive failure and dementia appears higher among those who develop a cardiometabolic disease earlier in life.”

Future studies will examine genetic factors and brain imaging to determine how cardiometabolic illnesses harm the brain.

Image Credit: Getty

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