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Links between cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline may begin in midlife before the first clinical symptoms of either condition appear, cross-sectional data from a cohort study suggested.
Middle-age cardiovascular risk largely driven by hypertension was associated with brain hypometabolism, an imaging marker of neurodegeneration, according to Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, of Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) in Madrid, Spain, and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and colleagues.
Subclinical carotid plaque burden also was tied to reduced brain metabolism independent of diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking, they reported in the When brain metabolism declines, the brain s ability to handle adverse events can be compromised. Depending on the brain area affected, this can lead to a range of distinct problems, co-author Marta Cortes-Canteli, PhD, also of CNIC, said in a statement.