PLoS Med: Maintaining the body's heart health may help slow or prevent the onset of dementia in later life

January 12, 2021 // -- A recent article published in the international magazine PLoS Medicine entitled "Associations between arterial stiffening and brain structure, In a study by Perfusion, and cognition in the Whitehall II Imaging Sub-study: Aspective Cohort study, scientists from Oxford University and others have found that targeted treatment of atherosclerosis early in an individual's life may provide some benefits for improving cognitive function in old age, while also helping to slow the onset of dementia.
photo source: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain, researchers studied 542 older people at the age of 64 and 68, using two methods to determine aortic stiffness in their bodies, and then using cognitive tests and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess the size, connections and blood supply of different brain regions of participants.
The largest artery in the body, the aorta, hardens as you get older, and studies have found that the aorta hardens faster in middle age and older, which is directly associated with poorer brain health markers; including 1) reduced blood supply to the brain; 2) reduced structural connectivity between different brain regions; and 3) poorer memory.
Medical interventions and lifestyle changes early in life may help slow atherosclerosis, and in an ageing society, researchers expect the number of people with dementia to nearly triple by 2050, so developing ways to prevent or slow the onset of dementia will have a significant social and economic impact.
researcher Sana Suri said the study linked heart health to brain health and could help us understand how to reduce aortic stiffness to maintain the health of the brain in old age.
The decline in connectivity between different regions of the brain is thought to be an early biomarker of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, and preventing these changes by reducing or slowing the rigidity of the body's large blood vessels may serve as a new way to maintain health and memory improvements in the body's brain as we age.
() Original source: Sana Suri, Scott T. Chiesa, Enikő Zsoldos, et al. Associations between arterial stiffening and brain structure, perfusion, and cognition in the Whitehall II Imaging Sub-study: A retrospective cohort study, PLOS Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003467