Cardiovascular Factors May Up Risk for Alzheimer’s

by Rick Nauert PhD for Psych Central:In a new study, researchers have discovered a link between mild cognitive impairment, elevated cardiovascular risk factors, and Alzheimer’s disease.Advances have been made toward determining the probability of developing dementia as scientists have found that metabolic and genetic factors influence the disorder.Moreover, some vascular risk factors, as hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, or smoking can cause a derangement in extra or intracranial vessels architecture, which can be responsible for an early aging of the brain.However, reliable tools for early identification of subjects at greater risk of evolution from mild cognitive impairment to AD are not available.In a recent study, a research group from the Neurological Clinic of the University Hospital Ospedali Riuniti di Ancona and Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy, evaluated the reliability of the Framingham cardiovascular risk profile (FCRP) for the prediction of the evolution from mild cognitive impairment to AD.FCRP is a commonly adopted score used to calculate the risk of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events along a 10-year period.Study authors selected FCRP to evaluate if some common conditions, such as hypertension or diabetes, could be involved in increasing the risk of developing dementia.The results of this study appear in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.The new research, coordinated by Mauro Silvestrini, Leandro Provinciali and Giovanna Viticchi as principal investigator, demonstrated that in subjects affected by mild cognitive impairment, the presence of high FCRP scores is associated to an increased risk of developing AD.These results could have a relevant impact on the management of dementia because prevention of vascular risk factors and treatment of vascular damage can reduce the incidence of AD.Reducing and preventing the progression of vascular damage could represent a main therapeutic target for the prevention of cognitive deterioration.Source: PsychCentral (no longer available online)