Why So Many People Are Secretly Unhealthy and More at Risk of Dementia, Stroke or Early Death – This is What New Study Says

Stroke and dementia are now leading factors for early death and a new age calculator shows who’s more at risk

Individuals whose biological age surpasses their chronological age face a significantly elevated risk of experiencing stroke and dementia, particularly vascular dementia, according to a research study conducted at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, as reported in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry.

The study, led by Sara Hägg, an associate professor, and Jonathan Mak, a doctoral student at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet, indicates that this heightened risk persists even when considering other influencing factors like genetics, lifestyle, and socioeconomics.

Traditionally, researchers have relied on chronological age, the number of years a person has lived, as a rough measure of biological age.

However, as Sara Hägg points out, “because people age at different rates, chronological age is a rather imprecise measure.”

To assess biological age and its connection to health issues, the research team drew on data from the UK Biobank, examining a cohort of 325,000 individuals aged 40 to 70 during the initial assessment.

Biological age was determined using 18 biomarkers, including factors like blood lipids, blood sugar, blood pressure, lung function, and BMI. The researchers subsequently examined how these biomarkers related to the likelihood of developing neurodegenerative conditions like dementia, stroke, ALS, and Parkinson’s disease within a nine-year period.

Comparing biological age to actual chronological age, the study found a substantial increase in the risk of dementia, particularly vascular dementia, and ischemic stroke (caused by a blood clot in the brain) for those with a higher biological age.

Jonathan Mak explains, “If a person’s biological age is five years higher than their actual age, the person has a 40 per cent higher risk of developing vascular dementia or suffering a stroke.”

It’s essential to note that this is an observational study, so it cannot establish causal relationships. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that slowing down the aging processes, as indicated by the measured biomarkers, might offer the potential to reduce or delay the onset of these diseases.

Sara Hägg notes, “Several of the values can be influenced through lifestyle and medications.”

What makes this research particularly noteworthy is its inclusion of a large and diverse group of participants, allowing for a more nuanced analysis, even accounting for less common diagnoses like ALS.

The study also reveals that the risk of developing ALS increases with a higher biological age, although no such risk increase was observed for Parkinson’s disease.

Sara Hägg comments, “We already know that Parkinson’s disease is a bit unique in other contexts as well, for example, when it comes to smoking.”

Moving forward, they plan to explore the correlation between biological age and other health conditions, including cancer.

Source: 10.1136/jnnp-2023-331917

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