“With Alzheimer’s dementia over the age of 65, ‘this disease’ has a more significant impact”｜Dong-A Ilbo

It has been proven that vascular disease has a major impact on Alzheimer’s dementia that occurs in people over 65 years old.

The results of this study were published in the latest issue of the international academic journal ‘Scientific Reports’.

The joint research team of Professor Noh Young from the Department of Neurology at Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Cho Jae-rim from the Department of Preventive Medicine at Yonsei University College of Medicine, and Professor Seong Jun-kyung from Korea University analyze its importance. of various risk factors affecting cognitive decline and cerebral atrophy in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease and patients with late Alzheimer’s disease

Depending on the age of onset, it is classified as early-onset (early) Alzheimer’s disease if it occurs in people under 65 years of age, and late-onset (geriatric) Alzheimer’s disease if it occurs in people over 65 years of age. of age. age

As a result of the study, the characteristics of the risk factors of early Alzheimer’s disease and late Alzheimer’s disease were different. In patients with early Alzheimer’s disease who develop before the age of 65, an accumulation of the pathological material of Alzheimer’s disease called ‘tau protein’ in the brain was found to significantly contribute to cognitive decline.

On the other hand, in patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease that develops after the age of 65, not only toxic substances such as tau protein and amyloid protein, but also diseases of small cerebral vessels such as microhemorrhage and lacunar blockage △ hypertension △diabetes △coronary artery disease △hyperlipidemia △past history of stroke The importance of vascular risk factors such as

This difference was also observed in the study of cerebral cortex thickness measured using brain magnetic resonance imaging. In patients with early Alzheimer’s disease, tau accumulation was found to be the factor that had the greatest effect on the thickness of the cerebral cortex.

Lacunar infarcts and microhemorrhages were found to be the most important risk factors for cerebral cortical atrophy in patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. However, the relative importance of tau accumulation was determined to be low.

Professor Noh said, “This study shows that in patients with late stage Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for more than 90% of Alzheimer’s disease, not only the pathological materials of Alzheimer’s disease but also vascular risk factors and atrophy of the brain cortex, which. identifying cognitive functions such as memory and degeneration of nerve cells, “We announced that the location of the disease of small blood vessels in the brain has a homogeneous effect,” he said to prevent dementia.”

At the same time, it was found that the number of patients with ‘early onset dementia’, which occurs before the elderly, has increased 3.6 times over the past 10 years.

According to the National Institutes of Health Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the number of patients with early depression increased from 17,772 in 2009 to 63,231 in 2019, an increase of about 3.6 times over the past 10 years .