BANDUNG, AYOBANDUNG.COM – Young adults with a factor risk of cardiovascular disease as high blood pressure, obesity, or high blood sugar levels may also have a higher risk of experiencing cognitive decline where old. This shows the importance of maintaining a healthy heart at youth.
“The results of our study were very surprising and suggest that early adulthood (age 20s) may be a critical time for the association between heart health problems and late-life cognitive skills,” said study author Dr. Kristine Yaffe, a cognitive aging and dementia researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, as quoted from Healthline.
Launching from Healthline, people can modify, treat, or manage risk factors for heart problems with medications or lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise. Overcoming them not only improves heart health, but is also good for the brain.
“It is possible that treating or changing these health problems in early adulthood could prevent or reduce thinking skills problems later in life,” said Yaffe. The study has been published in the journal Neurology.
Yaffe and colleagues collected data from four other studies which included a total of more than 15,000 adults aged 18 to 95 who were followed for 10 to 30 years. The study included measures of cardiovascular risk factors, including body mass index (BMI), fasting blood sugar levels, systolic blood pressure, and total cholesterol.
Yaffe and his colleagues analyzed the data to see if cardiovascular problems in early adulthood, midlife, or later in life were associated with greater decreases in end-of-life scores on tests of thinking and memory.
They found that people who were obese, high blood pressure, or high blood sugar levels at one of the three life stages are more likely to experience a greater decline in cognitive skills later in life.
However, the relationship between these risk factors and cognitive decline in the elderly most occur in young adults. Those who are in their 20s and 30s have cardiovascular problems, are at risk cognitive decline 80 to 100 percent greater than that seen in people who do not have these health problems.
“With more young people developing diabetes and obesity in early adulthood, together with higher rates of underdiagnosed and untreated cardiovascular problems this could have significant public health implications for cognitive health in old age,” Yaffe said. Suara.com.
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