Alzheimer's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alzheimer's Disease, including details on diagnosis, memory loss, heredity, treatment, medication.

Cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease: common links.

Stampfer MJ

Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA. stampfer@hsph.harvard.edu

Growing evidence supports a strong and likely causal association between cardiovascular disease (CVD), and its risk factors, with incidence of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. Individuals with subclinical CVD are at higher risk for dementia and Alzheimer's. Several cardiovascular risk factors are also risk factors for dementia, including hypertension, high LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol and especially diabetes. Moderate alcohol appears to be protective for both CVD and dementia. In contrast, inflammatory markers predict cardiovascular risk, but not dementia, despite biological plausibility for such a link. The substantial overlap in risk factors points to new avenues for research and prevention.

Published 21 August 2006 in J Intern Med, 260(3): 211-23.
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