People who show early signs of heart problems may also have changes in their brains that could be early warning signs of dementia, according to a new analysis of existing studies.
The findings were published on March 26, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study, known as a meta-analysis, reviewed data from seven previous studies in Europe and the United States. These studies included a total of 10,889 adults with an average age of 67. The researchers looked at early signs of heart issues, such as systolic and diastolic dysfunction, and compared them with brain scans that measured brain volume.
Systolic dysfunction means the heart’s left chamber (the left ventricle) has trouble pumping blood. Diastolic dysfunction means the heart doesn’t relax properly between beats, which affects how well it fills with blood. Both of these are early signs that the heart may not be working as it should.
The researchers found that people with moderate to severe systolic dysfunction had smaller brain volumes than people with healthy heart function. People with diastolic dysfunction also had smaller brains overall—and smaller volumes in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that plays a key role in memory.
“This review shows that better heart health is associated with larger brain volumes,” said Dr. Frank J. Wolters, the lead author of the study and a doctor at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. “It suggests that keeping your heart healthy may help protect your brain and preserve thinking and memory skills as you age.”
The study did not prove that heart problems directly cause brain shrinkage. Instead, it showed a link between the two. Still, the findings are important because they suggest that even mild heart issues might lead to changes in brain health.
Dr. Wolters said it might be helpful for doctors to check memory and thinking skills in people with heart problems—especially those with diastolic dysfunction—to catch any signs of mental decline early and take action.
He also noted that more studies are needed to better understand how heart health affects brain health. In particular, researchers want to explore how these brain changes impact people’s daily lives and long-term health outcomes.
One limitation of the study is that most participants were white, so the results may not apply to people from more diverse backgrounds. Future research should include people of different races and ethnicities to make the findings more widely applicable.
Still, this study supports the idea that heart and brain health are closely connected. Taking care of your heart may be one way to help protect your brain as you grow older.
If you care about brain health, please read studies about Vitamin B9 deficiency linked to higher dementia risk, and cranberries could help boost memory.
For more health information, please see recent studies about heartburn drugs that could increase risk of dementia, and results showing this MIND diet may protect your cognitive function, prevent dementia.
The study findings are published in Neurology.
