In a new study, researchers found that Alzheimer’s disease not linked to high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes.
The research was conducted by a team from Lund University.
Around 50 million people suffer from dementia, and that number may triple in the next three decades.
The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Patients have a build-up of two proteins in the brain (beta-amyloid and tau).
Previous studies have shown that diabetes and cardiovascular disease like high blood pressure play big roles in the development of dementia.
These health conditions contribute to vascular dementia, which occurs because of damage to blood vessels.
Blood vessel damage can increase the risk of dangerous bleeds or blood clots in the brain.
Blood clots and bleeds stop oxygen getting to parts of the brain which then leads to the death of those brain cells.
In the current study, the team examined whether high blood pressure and diabetes are also risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.
They examined if the occurrence of high blood pressure and diabetes differed between people with Alzheimer’s compared with those diagnosed with vascular dementia.
The researchers examined brain samples of 268 deceased patients older than 65. They also checked medical records to determine if the patients had high blood pressure or diabetes before they died.
The results showed that in patients with vascular dementia, the occurrence of both high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes were high.
However, in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, the occurrence of both diseases was much lower.
For example, in the group with Alzheimer’s, 37% had had high blood pressure. The number was 74% in the group with vascular dementia.
About only 12% of the group with Alzheimer’s had diabetes, compared with 31% in the group with vascular dementia.
The findings suggest that Alzheimer’s disease is not linked to high blood resume or type 2 diabetes.
The researchers explain that previous research about the link between high blood pressure, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease is done in a clinic.
The patients in these studies are alive and may have been wrongly diagnosed. An autopsy is the only way to diagnose a person’s dementia disorder with nearly 100% accuracy.
The team suggests that people still need to control blood pressure and avoid type 2 diabetes to protect their brain and heart health.
The leader of the study is Elisabet Englund, Associate Professor in Clinical Neuropathology, Lund University.
The study is published in The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
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