HEALTH CONDITIONS — Alzheimer's

According to a Finnish study, middle-aged people with high blood pressure and cholesterol are at greater risk of developing Alzheimer's later in life, but treating those conditions early may help avoid the disease.

Not only that, researchers in the Netherlands find that people who have other so-called vascular diseases like atherosclerosis or diabetes and people who smoke also have a greater risk of developing dementia later in life.

It is thought that having high blood pressure or atherosclerosis causes damage to the small blood vessels of the brain, which leads to loss of cerebral tissue. This in turn leads to diminishing cognitive function and an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease.

The study shows the following:

• Those with a systolic blood pressure greater than 160 were 2.3 times as likely to develop Alzheimer's.
• Those with cholesterol greater than 250 were 2.1 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's.
• Those with both conditions — systolic blood pressure greater than 160 and cholesterol level over 250 — were 3.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's.

InData Publishing
Olympia, WA

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