Scientists are constantly striving to understand how heart health in middle age affects future body and brain functions, in order to provide preventative advice that enhances quality of life as we age.
In this regard, a recent study found that maintaining heart health in one's fifties may be key to reducing the risk of developing dementia in old age.
It has been shown that damage to the heart muscle in middle age is associated with an increased risk of dementia by more than a third, and signs of this risk may appear up to 25 years before diagnosis.
In the study, a team of scientists from University College London (UCL) examined the health records of nearly 6,000 people who had worked in the civil service since 1985. These individuals underwent blood tests for a protein called troponin when they were between 45 and 69 years old, and none of them had been diagnosed with dementia or heart disease at the start of the study. Troponin is a marker of heart muscle damage and is commonly used to monitor heart attacks.
The researchers followed the participants for 25 years, conducting memory and cognitive function tests at six different intervals. During this period, 695 people were diagnosed with dementia. The results showed that those with higher levels of troponin in their blood were more likely to develop dementia, and this was evident even 7 to 25 years before diagnosis.
The team noted that those with high levels of troponin experienced a faster decline in cognitive function. MRI scans of 641 participants also showed that those with high troponin levels at the start of the study tended to have a smaller hippocampus, an important region for memory, approximately 15 years later.
Professor Brian Williams, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This study reminds us that heart and brain health are linked, and that middle age is a sensitive period where damage can set in for long-term decline. Focusing on a healthy lifestyle throughout life—maintaining blood pressure, managing cholesterol, regular physical activity, a healthy weight, and not smoking—promotes heart health and reduces the risk of dementia."
Professor Eric Brunner, a co-author of the study, emphasized that "controlling cardiovascular risk factors in middle age could slow or even halt the progression of dementia and heart disease." He added that the study's findings suggest that measuring troponin levels could become an important tool for assessing dementia risk in the future.
The study was published in the European Heart Journal.
