A study led by researchers at UC Davis, published in the August 2nd issue of the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, discovered high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and smoking in middle age people may trigger vascular damage, decrease brain volume and cause cognitive decline later in life.

Charles DeCarli, a professor of neurology in the UC Davis School of Medicine and director of the UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center, explains,

“This study provides evidence that identifying these risk factors early in middle age could be useful in screening people at risk of dementia and in encouraging them to make changes in their lifestyles before it’s too late.”

Relationships between midlife vascular risk factors and markers for the brain aging based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), were analyzed during the study. The indicators are linked with cognitive decline and dementia later in life.

The investigation was carried out with data from participants in the Framingham Offspring Cohort Study, a multi-site, prospective group investigation consisting of three generations of the offspring and spouses from participants in the Framingham Heart Study, which included approximately 1,352 participants, with the average age of 54 years.

Since 1978 the participants were followed to identify vascular disease risk factors, and were continually assessed, which contained an elevated body mass index, hypertension, obesity, diabetes and smoking.

Starting in 1999, researchers acquired measures of vascular disease, such as the volume of white matter hyper-intensities, bright white areas exposed on MRI, that are linked with increased vascular damage. Changes in total brain volume, cognitive tests of verbal and spatial memory together with decision-making capabilities measurements were also included.

Research discovered people with high blood pressure produced white matter hyper-intensities at an accelerated rate, and had a faster decline in scores on tests of executive function or decision and planning making, in comparison to those with normal blood pressure. Obese participants were more prone to being in the top 25% of people with a greater decline rate in scores on tests of executive functioning abilities later in life.

The investigation discovered lost brain volume in the hippocampus brain region was faster in participants with diabetes during mid-life, than those without diabetes when they were older. Participants who smoked, lost overall brain volume faster, and were more likely to have a rapid increase in white matter hyper-intensities than non-smokers.

DeCarli, a member of the American Academy of Neurology said,

“These factors appeared to cause the brain to lose volume, to develop lesions secondary to presumed vascular injury, and also appeared to affect the brain’s ability to plan and make decisions as quickly as it had 10 years earlier.”

Other authors of the study from Boston University include, Stephanie Debette, Sudha Seshadri, Alexa Besier, Jayandra Jung Himali, Carole Palumbo and Philip A. Wolf.

The investigation was funded by grants from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Institutes of Health.

Written by Grace Rattue