A new study has found that men with heart-related health risks improve their mental health compared to women with similar heart-health risks. Lose quickly.
Research published in Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry They say men’s brains begin to decline in their mid-50s, while women’s brains decline in their mid-60s and beyond.
“These findings suggest that reducing cardiovascular risk is an important therapeutic goal in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, and indicate that it should be aggressively addressed a decade earlier in men than in women.” should,” said research team leader Paul Addison. UPI.
Risk factors for heart disease such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and smoking have previously been associated with a higher risk of dementia, the researchers said in background notes.
However, it is not clear when these heart disease and risk factors begin to affect mental health and whether there are differences between men and women, the researchers added.
Researchers observed and analyzed data from around 34,500 participants in the UK Biobank and, through imaging scans, were able to track changes in the brain over time.
The researchers then calculated their risk of heart disease using their recorded health data.
The findings showed that cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity and high levels of abdominal fat led to a decline in brain volume over the decades for both men and women.
However, for men, these harmful effects began to appear between the ages of 55 and 74, while for women, symptoms began to appear between 65 and 74.
In addition, the researchers added that men are more at stake than women.
“Modifiable cardiovascular risk factors, including obesity, deserve special attention in the treatment/prevention of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers wrote.
“This highlights the importance of aggressively targeting cardiovascular risk factors before age 55 to prevent neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s disease, in addition to the benefit of preventing other cardiovascular events such as myocardial infarction. [heart attack] And strokes,” he added.