Healthy Heart in Midlife May Lower Dementia Risk Later
By Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer | February 22, 2017 06:30pm ET
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Healthy Heart in Midlife May Lower Dementia Risk Later
Credit: Michael Gray/Dreamstime
Keeping your heart healthy could also benefit your brain, hints a new study suggesting that people who have risk factors for heart disease in middle age are also at increased risk for dementia later in life.
The study analyzed information from more than 15,000 U.S. adults who started the study when they were ages 45 to 64 and were followed for 25 years. During the study, about 1,500 participants developed dementia.
People who had diabetes or high blood pressure at the start of the study, or who smoked at that time, were at increased risk for developing dementia about 25 years later. (All three of these factors are known to increase the risk of heart disease.) [6 Big Mysteries of Alzheimer's Disease]
http://www.livescience.com/57979-heart-risk-middle-age-dementia.html
