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High blood pressure, cholesterol and weight increase dementia risk : Presented at ANA

SAN DIEGO, CA -- May 2, 2000 -- According to a report presented during the American Academy of Neurology's 52nd Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA, men who were overweight, had high blood pressure and high cholesterol when first examined around the age of 50 were more likely to suffer from vascular dementia in their late 70's.
Vascular dementia is characterized by memory loss and other declines in mental function. It is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer's disease. Patients often have hypertension (high blood pressure) and other evidence of cardiovascular disease, and brain scans usually show that small strokes have gradually destroyed parts of the brain.
"It is too early to state that reducing their risk factor levels will definitely decrease the risk of vascular dementia," said Sandra Kalmijn, MD, PhD, a researcher at the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Maryland, and lead author of the study. "However, if these findings are confirmed by other large studies, improving the risk factor levels in middle age may result in delaying the onset of vascular dementia in older age."
The researchers drew their data from 3,555 Japanese-American men who have been enrolled since the mid-1960s in the Honolulu Heart Program, which examines participants' health at regular intervals. During testing in the early 1990s, 215 of the men had clinical signs of dementia.
The researchers went back to the 1960s data to identify men who had had a cluster of cardiovascular disease risk factors that has been termed "syndrome X." The syndrome includes elevated blood glucose levels, blood pressure, body weight, and cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
The data were adjusted for personal factors, such as age, education level and the number of years a subject had lived in Japan. The researchers determined that syndrome X in middle age increased the risk of vascular dementia in old age. They found no evidence that men who had syndrome X in their 50s were more likely to have Alzheimer's dementia later in life.
"In general, people with a clustering of metabolic cardiovascular risk factors, even if they are still at middle age, should be watched closely," said Dr. Kalmijn. "They should be encouraged to modify risk factors, such as blood pressure, body weight and cholesterol levels, by eating a healthy diet and getting regular exercise."
The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 16,500 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research.

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