People who show early signs of heart problems may also begin to experience changes in their brain that are connected to dementia—such as shrinking brain volume—according to a new meta-analysis published in the journal Neurology.
While the study does not prove that heart problems cause brain cell loss, it does highlight a strong link between heart health and brain health as we age.
Dr. Frank J. Wolters, lead author of the study and a researcher at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, explained the significance of the findings: “This review shows that better heart health is associated with larger brain volumes, suggesting that keeping the heart healthy could also help protect memory and thinking abilities later in life.”
The research team analyzed data from seven different studies conducted in Europe and the United States, including a total of 10,889 participants. The average age of those involved was 67 years old. All participants had undergone heart assessments to detect early signs of dysfunction, along with MRI brain scans to evaluate the size of their brains.
The heart assessments focused on two types of problems with how the heart pumps blood:
Systolic dysfunction, when the heart’s main pumping chamber (the left ventricle) doesn’t contract strongly enough to push blood out effectively.
Diastolic dysfunction, when the left ventricle has trouble relaxing between beats and doesn’t fill with enough blood.
The researchers found that people with moderate to severe systolic dysfunction had a smaller total brain volumecompared to those with normal heart function.
Even people with mild diastolic dysfunction showed signs of brain changes, including a smaller hippocampus, which is a key brain area responsible for memory and learning. This is important because the hippocampus is one of the first regions to be affected in Alzheimer’s disease.
“These results suggest that even mild issues with heart function—particularly how the heart fills with blood—may be linked to harmful effects on the brain,” said Dr. Wolters. “Screening people with heart problems for signs of memory or thinking issues could help detect cognitive decline earlier and allow for earlier intervention.”
While this study provides valuable insight, it also has limitations. Most of the participants were white, meaning the results may not apply to all racial or ethnic groups. Also, since the studies included were observational, the meta-analysis cannot confirm cause and effect—only a strong association.
Still, the findings add to a growing body of research showing that heart and brain health are closely connected. Poor heart function may reduce blood flow to the brain, affecting its structure and potentially increasing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.
In conclusion, maintaining good heart health—through regular exercise, healthy eating, blood pressure control, and early treatment of heart issues—could be an important part of protecting brain health as we grow older.
Further studies are needed, especially those involving more diverse populations, to better understand how heart conditions may contribute to long-term brain changes and dementia risk.
If you care about dementia, please read studies that eating apples and tea could keep dementia at bay, and Olive oil: a daily dose for better brain health.
For more health information, please see recent studies what you eat together may affect your dementia risk, and time-restricted eating: a simple way to fight aging and cancer.
The research findings can be found in Neurology.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
