Latest news with #DeborahLevine
Daily Mirror
28-04-2025
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Cognitive decline and ageing occur 'more rapidly' among people with one health issue
Scientists believe the health issue biologically ages individuals by around 10 years within just seven years of a diagnosis Suffering from one common health issue may accelerate ageing, stark research alerts. A new study has shed light on the link between heart problems and cognitive decline, at a time when over 944,000 people in the UK are living with dementia. This project, led by the University of Michigan, pooled the data of 29,614 adults from six US studies to scrutinise what happened to those who experienced heart failure and those who didn't. Crucially, the team focused on three key factors. These included 'global cognition' - a measure of the mental processes behind attributes such as learning, problem-solving and language - alongside memory and 'executive function'. The latter refers to a set of 'higher-level' cognitive skills used for planning, setting goals and coordinating abilities. Worryingly, the analyses showed that heart failure was associated with a 'significant decrease' in cognition at the point of diagnosis. Beyond this, both global cognition and executive function reportedly declined very quickly in the years following. In fact, scientists believe heart failure biologically ages individuals by around 10 years within just seven years of a diagnosis. Lead author, Clinical Assistant Professor Supriya Shore, explained:"Heart failure is a disease that never goes away and treating it relies heavily on a patient's ability to follow specific instructions, monitor their symptoms and keep up with many different medications. "Seeing this cognitive decline among patients, and how it worsens over time after a diagnosis of heart failure, should be a warning for providers to assess a patient's cognitive ability early and factor it into the care plan." The US-based team found the most significant decline in global cognition among older adults, white participants, and women. In light of their results, they assert that individuals with heart failure would reach 'the threshold for meaningful decline in global cognition' almost six years earlier than others without it. "Regular cognitive monitoring of older adults with heart failure would help identify individuals with the earliest signs of cognitive decline who require supportive care," senior author Professor Deborah Levine added. "We need a better understanding of the mechanisms driving accelerated cognitive decline after heart failure to develop interventions that halt or slow the decline." Heart failure describes a condition in which the heart cannot sufficiently pump blood around the body. While it does not mean the heart has stopped working, it usually occurs if it has weakened or stiffened. Unfortunately, the NHS explains that it's usually incurable and gradually worsens over time. However, symptoms can be managed for many years with medication and lifestyle changes. The concerning new research also comes amidst a wave of findings regarding the potential link between diet and cognitive decline. Another new study from the University of Sydney claimed that high-fat, high-sugar diets could potentially harm the hippocampus. This brain region plays a pivotal role in memory formation and spatial navigation, and is often the first area affected by Alzheimer's disease. Lead author Dr Dominic Tran explained: "We've long known eating too much refined sugar and saturated fat brings the risk of obesity, metabolic and cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. "We also know these unhealthy eating habits hasten the onset of age-related cognitive decline in middle age and older adults. This research gives us evidence that diet is important for brain health in early adulthood, a period when cognitive function is usually intact." Symptoms of dementia Dementia is an umbrella term describing several conditions related to the ongoing decline of the brain. During its onset, common symptoms may include: Difficulty concentrating Finding it hard to carry out familiar daily tasks, such as getting confused over the correct change when shopping Memory loss Struggling to follow a conversation or find the right word Being confused about time and place Mood changes The NHS encourages anyone experiencing these symptoms to seek medical advice.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Highly educated people face steeper brain decline after stroke
The higher you fly, the harder you fall, the old saying goes. There might be something to that when it comes to the aftermath of a stroke, a new study suggests. People with higher education face a steeper decline in their ability to plan, organize and problem-solve following a stroke, compared to those with less than a high school degree, researchers reported in JAMA Network Open. The results run counter to what researchers had expected: that highly educated people would have slower brain decline following a stroke. The study found that highly educated stroke survivors did do better than less-educated people in brain tests immediately following a stroke, but that they experienced a faster decline in their cognitive abilities during the years that followed. "Our findings suggest that attending higher education may enable people to retain greater cognitive ability until a critical threshold of brain injury is reached after a stroke," lead researcher Dr. Mellanie Springer, a professor of neurology at University of Michigan Medical School, said in a news release. "At this point, compensation may fail, and rapid cognitive decline occurs," she said. For the study, researchers pooled data from four studies, analyzing the outcomes of more than 2,000 people without dementia who survived a stroke between 1971 and 2019. Right after a stroke, college graduates performed better than high school dropouts across the board on tests of brain processing speed, executive function and memory, results show. But college grads later suffered a faster decline in their executive function -- skills used to manage everyday tasks, like planning and problem-solving -- compared to folks who dropped out of either college or high school, researchers found. Prior to this, experts had considered education level something that might bolster the brain against decline by boosting cognitive reserve, or the ability to preserve higher levels of functioning even in the face of a brain injury. "Dementia is a greater threat after a first stroke than having another stroke," senior researcher Dr. Deborah Levine, a professor of internal medicine and neurology at the University of Michigan, said in a news release. In fact, stroke increases a person's risk of dementia by as much as 50-fold, researchers said in background notes. "We lack treatments that prevent or slow cognitive decline and dementia after stroke," Levine said. "This study increases our understanding and generates potential hypotheses about the causes of post-stroke cognitive decline and which patients face higher risks of it." Researchers also found that genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's did not appear to play a role in the relationship between stroke and brain decline. That means that the critical point at which a person's brain starts to fail does not depend on underlying genetic risk, and can be reached after just a single stroke, Springer said. "Identifying which stroke patients are at the highest risk for cognitive decline will help target future interventions to slow cognitive decline," Springer said. More information The American Stroke Association has more on the effects of stroke. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
