Good physical condition is recommended to fight diseases like diabetes and protect against certain heart diseases. A new Swedish study shows that good cardiovascular fitness could also significantly help reduce the risk of dementia.
A new Swedish study finds that being in good physical shape and cardiovascular fitness in your 50s could seriously reduce the risk of dementia in women. The results of this study, published in the journal Neurology, on March 14, 2018, indicate a risk reduction of 88%.
The term dementia encompasses a panel of vascular and neurodegenerative diseases characterized by progressive memory loss accompanied by other cognitive impairments. All of these pathologies affect around 50 million people worldwide according to the WHO.
We already know that many risk factors are linked to lifestyle, hence the establishment of preventive hygiene and diet rules.
Extended follow-up
Researchers from the Swedish University of Gothenburg wanted to go further and carried out a 44-year follow-up on 191 women aged 50 years on average at the start in order to analyze a potential link between good physical condition and the subsequent development of dementia.
They first evaluated the maximum cardiovascular capacity of each of the participants, that is to say the “maximum capacity of the cardiovascular system to supply oxygen to the skeletal muscle and that of the muscle to extract oxygen from the blood. “.
The link between midlife high cardiovascular fitness and #dementia risk in women: https://t.co/NjzsuZUYHP
The 9 modifiable risk factors linked to 35 percent of dementia cases: https://t.co/XYK591NMve
– Neurology Today (@NeurologyToday) March 15, 2018
Physical fitness and development of dementia
During the follow-up period, these participants were tested for dementia 6 times (1974, 1980, 1992, 2000, 2005 and 2009) and 44 of them developed it.
Of those who were considered to be in better physical shape, 5% were diagnosed with dementia. In contrast, 25% of moderately fit participants and 32% of poorly fit women developed dementia.
In addition, among women forced to stop exercising because of cardiovascular problems, 45% developed dementia.
In practice, women who are physically fit have an 88% reduced risk of dementia compared to those who are moderately fit. In addition, the onset of dementia in physically fit women is delayed by an average of 11 years.
Heart health and dementia
Lead author of the study, Helena Hörder, explains, “This indicates that cardiovascular damage can occur in your 50s and may increase the later risk of dementia. Improving cardiovascular fitness in middle-aged people could delay or even prevent the development of dementia. “
Thus, a good physical shape constitutes a factor of protection against dementia. The mechanisms involved in the way in which physical form reduces the risk of dementia would be rather indirect through an impact on hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, certain diabetes … diseases having an impact on the brain (neuronal structures, synthesis of neurotransmitters and growth factors).
This discovery offers new perspectives on a dementia mitigation or prevention strategy.
.
