Change of heart? It may affect thinking and memory skills in middle age


Date:
January 26, 2022
Source:
American Academy of Neurology
Summary:
Subtle changes in the structure and the diastolic function of
a person's heart between early adulthood and middle age may be
associated with a decline in thinking and memory skills.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Subtle changes in the structure and the diastolic function of a person's
heart between early adulthood and middle age may be associated with a
decline in thinking and memory skills. The research is published in the
January 26, 2022, online issue of Neurology(R), the medical journal of
the American Academy of Neurology. The diastolic function of the heart
is when it rests between beats and the chambers fill with blood.


========================================================================== "Cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol
and diabetes have been associated with an increased risk for cognitive impairment, but much less is known about heart structure and function
and the risks for cognition," said study author Laure Rouch, PharmD,
PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco. "We followed young
adults for 25 years into middle age and found declines in thinking and
memory skills independent of these other risk factors. Our findings
are of critical importance in the context of identifying potential
early markers in the heart of increased risk for later- life cognitive
decline. Such abnormalities are common and often underdiagnosed as they
do not produce any obvious symptoms." The study looked at 2,653 people
with an average age of 30. Participants had echocardiograms, ultrasound
images of the heart, at the start of the study and again 20 and 25 years
later. Echocardiograms are non-invasive and widely available.

Researchers used the images to measure the following: the weight of
the left ventricle, one of four chambers of the heart; the volume of
the blood that filled the left ventricle when pumping; and how well the
left ventricle pumped blood to the body, specifically the percentage of
blood pumped out of the heart.

Researchers found over 25 years, there was an average increase in the
weight of the left ventricle of 0.27 grams per square meter per year
(g/m2), with average weight of 81 g/m2 in the first year and 86 g/m2 in
the last year. There was also an average increase in left atrial volume
of 0.42 milliliters of blood per square meter (mL/m2) with average volume
of 16 mL/m2 in the first year and 26 mL/m2in the last year.

In the last year of the study, participants were given six cognitive
tests to measure thinking and memory skills including global cognition, processing speed, executive function, delayed verbal memory and verbal
fluency. Tests included tasks like recalling words from a list 10 minutes
after looking at the list, as well as substituting symbols for numbers
using a key at the top of the page.



========================================================================== After adjusting for factors like age, sex and education, researchers
found that a greater than average increase from early to middle adulthood
in the weight of a person's left ventricle was associated with lower
midlife cognition on most tests.

Tests included a common dementia test that asks participants to do
tasks like draw lines connecting alternating letters and numbers, and
repeat five words, complete other tasks, and then repeat the same five
words. Scores range from zero to 30 with 26 and higher representing normal cognition. Participants with a greater than average midlife increase in
left ventricle weight had an average score of 22.7 while those without
a greater than average increase in weight had an average score of 24.

Researchers also found a greater than average increase from early to
middle adulthood in left atrial volume was associated with lower midlife
global cognition.

However, a greater than average decrease in the percentage of blood
pumped out of the left ventricle was not associated with cognition.

"What is interesting is that our results were similar after adjusting
for cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes,
smoking and obesity," Rouch said. "As early as young adulthood, even
before the occurrence of cardiovascular disease, there may be heart abnormalities that could be risk markers for lower thinking and memory
skills in middle age. In the future, a single echocardiogram may help
identify people at higher risk of cognitive impairment." Rouch said
that future research should determine whether interventions to improve
the structure and function of the heart could benefit brain health. She
said, "The question of whether altered cardiac structure and function
could be a risk factor for cognitive impairment has major public health implications and could reveal another important heart-brain connection."
A limitation of the study is echocardiograms were performed up to 25
years apart using slightly different procedures and equipment, which
may make the data hard to compare.

The study was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,
the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Northwestern University, the University of Minnesota, the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute and
the National Institute on Aging.

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dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by American_Academy_of_Neurology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Laure ROUCH, Tina Hoang, Feng Xia, Stephen Sidney, Joao A.C Lima,
Kristine Yaffe. Twenty-Five-Year Change in Cardiac Structure and
Function and Midlife Cognition: The CARDIA Study. Neurology, 2022;
10.1212/ WNL.0000000000013249 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000013249 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220126165518.htm

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