{"id":1056,"date":"2022-03-21T21:19:18","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T21:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linksus.net\/10-health-factors-associated-with-alzheimers-risk-medical-news-today\/"},"modified":"2022-03-21T21:19:18","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T21:19:18","slug":"10-health-factors-associated-with-alzheimers-risk-medical-news-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/21\/10-health-factors-associated-with-alzheimers-risk-medical-news-today\/","title":{"rendered":"10 health factors associated with Alzheimer's risk – Medical News Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

People with dementia<\/a> experience a progressive loss of their ability to remember, think, and communicate effectively.
However, the changes in the brain that are responsible for dementia may begin decades before its effects on cognition and behavior become apparent.
The World Health Organization (WHO)<\/a><\/hl-trusted-source> indicates that of the 55 million people worldwide living with dementia, 60\u201370% have Alzheimer\u2019s disease.
Attempts to develop an effective treatment for Alzheimer\u2019s have met with little success. Researchers are increasingly turning their attention to detecting the disease early.
The key to this strategy is to identify early, \u201cmodifiable\u201d risk factors that doctors can target with drugs or other interventions.<\/strong>
Researchers at the Paris Brain Institute<\/a> in France have now found statistical associations between 10 health conditions and a diagnosis of Alzheimer\u2019s disease up to 10 years later.
Major depression was the earliest condition to be associated with a subsequent diagnosis of Alzheimer\u2019s, appearing at least 9 years in advance.
Other conditions that the study linked to a later diagnosis of Alzheimer\u2019s included:
They also showed that falls and fatigue had links to Alzheimer\u2019s risk.
The next step will be to determine whether these conditions help cause the disease or whether they are early signs of changes in the brain that are already happening.
\u201cDiseases like Alzheimer\u2019s can begin in the brain up to 2 decades before symptoms start to show,\u201d said Katy Bray, Ph.D., told Medical News Today<\/em>. Dr. Bray is a public engagement manager at Alzheimer\u2019s Research UK<\/a> and was not involved in the research.
\u201cIt is difficult to know how these conditions may contribute to the development of the disease or if they could also be very early symptoms,\u201d Dr. Bray told Medical News Today.
The study appears in The Lancet Digital Health<\/em><\/a><\/hl-trusted-source>.
The researchers analyzed the primary healthcare records of 20,214 people with Alzheimer\u2019s disease in the United Kingdom and 19,458 people with Alzheimer\u2019s in France.
They compared each person\u2019s medical records with a control matched for sex and age who had not received a diagnosis of a progressive brain disease during the 15-year study period.
Out of the 123 health conditions they investigated, 10 had a statistically significant association with a diagnosis of Alzheimer\u2019s disease 2\u201310 years later in France and the U.K.
Some of the conditions, such as depression, hearing loss, and sleep disorders, are already known risk factors for Alzheimer\u2019s.
However, this study was the first to identify constipation as a possible risk factor. The link between the two conditions became apparent 7 years before the diagnosis of Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/strong>
Interestingly, constipation is also associated with depression<\/a> and is an established early sign of other brain diseases, such as Lewy-body dementia and Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/a>.
\u201cThe connections made allowed us to confirm known associations, such as hearing problems or depression, and other less-known factors or early symptoms, such as cervical spondylosis or constipation,\u201d says Thomas Nedelec, Ph.D., the first author of the study.
\u201cThe question remains as to whether the health problems encountered are risk factors, symptoms, or warning signs of the disease,\u201d he added.
In their paper, the authors conclude:
\u201cOur findings make it possible to model the possible trajectories of risk factors in the period preceding the diagnosis of Alzheimer\u2019s disease, providing new insights into possible windows for prevention.\u201d
The study had some notable limitations. For example, it was unable to take other risk factors that contribute to Alzheimer\u2019s, including education level, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and genetics, into account.
\u201cThis study adds a wealth of data to our understanding of mental disorders, such as depression, as a risk factor for dementia,\u201d said Claire Sexton, Ph.D.,<\/a> director of scientific programs and outreach at the Alzheimer\u2019s Association in the United States, who was not involved in the study.
However, she emphasized that because their study was observational, rather than a clinical trial, for example, the scientists were unable to establish whether depression helps cause Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/strong>
\u201cJust because someone has depression does not mean they will go on to develop Alzheimer\u2019s,\u201d Dr. Sexton told MNT<\/em>.
\u201cHowever, these data support the idea that taking care of one\u2019s mental health is incredibly important for overall well-being and potentially cognitive health,\u201d she added.
Another recent study<\/a><\/hl-trusted-source> also found an association between mental health conditions and dementia.
In 2020, the Lancet<\/em> Commission on dementia<\/a><\/hl-trusted-source> added three new modifiable risk factors: excessive alcohol consumption, head injury, and air pollution to its existing list, which includes:
The report concluded that modifying all the risk factors that researchers have identified could prevent or delay dementia in up to 40% of people.<\/strong>
\u201cWhile midlife is emerging as a key time for dementia risk, it\u2019s never too early or too late in life to take action on brain health<\/a>,\u201d Dr. Bray told MNT<\/em>.
\u201cThis includes not smoking, only drinking in moderation, staying mentally and physically active, eating a balanced diet, and keeping cholesterol and blood pressure levels in check,\u201d she said.
As part of our Medical Myths series, this article covers 11 myths about dementia, including the role of vitamins and supplements and ways to reduce\u2026<\/a>
Dementia refers to symptoms that affect memory, communication, and thinking. It features in Alzheimer's disease. Learn about symptoms, stages, and\u2026<\/a>
People with a hearing impairment, hearing loss, or deafness will have either a partial or a total inability to hear sound. Some will rely on lip\u2026<\/a>
Depression is a common mental health problem that involves a low mood and a loss of interest in activities. Learn more about the symptoms, different\u2026<\/a>
Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia. Symptoms include memory loss and cognitive decline. Learn more about it here.<\/a>
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People with dementia experience a progressive loss of their ability to remember, think, and communicate effectively.However, the changes in the brain that are responsible for dementia may begin decades before its effects on cognition and behavior become apparent.The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that of the 55 million people worldwide living with dementia, 60\u201370% have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":869,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}