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Heart disease as a risk factor for dementia

B Ng Justin1, Michele Turek, Antoine M Hakim

  • 1Departments of Neuroscience and Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.

Clinical Epidemiology
|May 10, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Dementia risk is linked to heart disease. Managing cardiovascular health through medical treatments and lifestyle changes may help prevent or delay dementia onset.

Area of Science:

  • Neurology
  • Cardiology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Dementia prevalence and societal costs are increasing globally with longer life expectancies.
  • Understanding preventable and treatable causes of dementia is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To elucidate the connection between various forms of heart disease and dementia.
  • To highlight modifiable cardiovascular risk factors relevant to dementia prevention.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature linking cardiovascular conditions to dementia.
  • Exploration of cardiovascular risk factors and their impact on cognitive decline.

Main Results:

  • Established links between coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, valvular disease, and heart failure with dementia.
  • Identified several preventable and treatable cardiovascular risk factors.

Conclusions:

  • Heart disease and its risk factors are significantly associated with dementia.
  • Medical interventions and lifestyle modifications can potentially retard dementia onset.

Keywords:
Alzheimer’s diseaseatrial fibrillationcardiovascular risk factorscoronary artery diseaseheart failuremyocardial infarctionpreventionvalvular disease

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