A new study has indicated that heart conditions such as coronary artery disease and cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes and high cholesterol have a stronger connection with the decline in memory and thinking skills for middle-aged women than men.
The study published by Neurology – a medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, also noted that the risk factors are higher for women despite a higher prevalence of those conditions in men.
Reacting to the study, Consultant Cardiologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Dr. Ramon Moronkola said its findings have further validated previous related research on cardiovascular risk factors in middle age.
The study involved 1,857 individuals who were between the ages of 50 and 60, without dementia, at the beginning of the study.
The individuals were given a clinical evaluation every 15 months for an average of 3 years. The evaluation included 9 tests in executive function, language, memory, and spatial skills combined to calculate a composite cognitive score.
About 1,465 of the individuals had at least one cardiovascular condition or risk factor, with about 83 per cent of men compared with about 75 per cent of women.
The study author, Dr. Michelle Mielke of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said the results show that midlife cardiovascular conditions and risk factors were associated with midlife cognitive decline.
Mielke, who is also a member of the American Academy of Neurology said:
“Specifically, we found that certain cardiovascular conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and dyslipidemia, which is abnormally high levels of fats in the blood, had stronger associations with cognitive decline in women compared to men.”
The researchers found that most cardiovascular conditions were more strongly associated with cognitive functions among women. Heart disease was associated with more than a two-fold greater decline in composite cognitive test scores for women compared with men.
They also found that abnormally high levels of fat in the body, diabetes and heart disease were associated with language score declines only in women.
However, investigators also found that congestive heart failure was associated with language score declines only in men.
According to Mayo Clinic, the most common heart attack symptom in women is the same as in men — some type of chest pain, pressure or discomfort that lasts more than a few minutes or comes and goes.
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