心血管疾病风险因素与大脑变化有关
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Getting high blood pressure and other threats to heart health under control might also help keep mental prowess sharp with age, a small study suggests.
The study of 29 healthy older adults found that particular structural changes in the brain progressed more extensively among those with cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and diabetes.
Past studies have tied these brain changes, which some researchers view as part of "normal aging," to poorer mental functioning. With that in mind, the new findings suggest that controlling cardiovascular risk factors could help preserve older adults' mental fitness as well, according to lead author Dr. Ian Cook.
, 百拇医药
He and his colleagues at the University of California Los Angeles report the findings in the March/April issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
The researchers used MRI scans to look at two broad types of brain-structure change -- atrophy, or shrinkage, and lesions in the brain's white matter called hyperintensities.
Such changes, which are related to problems with blood flow to the brain, can arise from so-called "mini-strokes." But healthy older people may also show similar, though smaller, structural changes, Cook explained in an interview.
, 百拇医药
He and his colleagues term these changes "subclinical structural brain disease," or SSBD, because they may be early signs of disease.
However, Cook said longer-term studies are needed to see whether they actually mean people are at higher risk of developing vascular dementia, a form of dementia caused by impaired blood flow in the vessels supplying the brain.
In the current study, men and women age 60 and older underwent MRI scans and took a battery of tests of mental function at the study's outset, then again two to six years later.
, http://www.100md.com
On the second scan, most showed a progression in brain atrophy and white-matter lesions, and those with cardiovascular risk factors showed greater white-matter changes than other participants did. Overall, performance on the mental tests changed little, however. <
Still, past research has tied greater degrees of SSBD to poorer mental functioning, Cook and his colleagues note.
In real life, the effects may play out in relatively minor ways -- misplacing keys, walking into a room and forgetting why you went there. The finding that cardiovascular risk factors are related to greater SSBD suggests a way to prevent such effects, according to Cook.
The same measures promoted for preventing heart attack and stroke -- exercise, healthy diet, medications for conditions like high blood pressure -- might also guard against "more-subtle changes" in mental function, he said.
SOURCE: American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, March/April, 2004., 百拇医药
The study of 29 healthy older adults found that particular structural changes in the brain progressed more extensively among those with cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and diabetes.
Past studies have tied these brain changes, which some researchers view as part of "normal aging," to poorer mental functioning. With that in mind, the new findings suggest that controlling cardiovascular risk factors could help preserve older adults' mental fitness as well, according to lead author Dr. Ian Cook.
, 百拇医药
He and his colleagues at the University of California Los Angeles report the findings in the March/April issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
The researchers used MRI scans to look at two broad types of brain-structure change -- atrophy, or shrinkage, and lesions in the brain's white matter called hyperintensities.
Such changes, which are related to problems with blood flow to the brain, can arise from so-called "mini-strokes." But healthy older people may also show similar, though smaller, structural changes, Cook explained in an interview.
, 百拇医药
He and his colleagues term these changes "subclinical structural brain disease," or SSBD, because they may be early signs of disease.
However, Cook said longer-term studies are needed to see whether they actually mean people are at higher risk of developing vascular dementia, a form of dementia caused by impaired blood flow in the vessels supplying the brain.
In the current study, men and women age 60 and older underwent MRI scans and took a battery of tests of mental function at the study's outset, then again two to six years later.
, http://www.100md.com
On the second scan, most showed a progression in brain atrophy and white-matter lesions, and those with cardiovascular risk factors showed greater white-matter changes than other participants did. Overall, performance on the mental tests changed little, however. <
Still, past research has tied greater degrees of SSBD to poorer mental functioning, Cook and his colleagues note.
In real life, the effects may play out in relatively minor ways -- misplacing keys, walking into a room and forgetting why you went there. The finding that cardiovascular risk factors are related to greater SSBD suggests a way to prevent such effects, according to Cook.
The same measures promoted for preventing heart attack and stroke -- exercise, healthy diet, medications for conditions like high blood pressure -- might also guard against "more-subtle changes" in mental function, he said.
SOURCE: American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, March/April, 2004., 百拇医药