Although the prevalence of heart diseases and the risk factors for heart diseases is higher in middle-aged men than in middle-aged women, their adverse impact on cognition was higher in women, according to a study reported in the journal Neurology.¹

Researchers involved 1857 people from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, who were aged 50 to 69 years when the study was initiated and had no dementia at baseline. All the participants were assessed every 15 months for an average of three years and tested for language, memory, visuospatial skills and executive function including neurologic evaluation. Their medical records were perused to determine the presence of cardiac conditions such as coronary heart disease, arrhythmias, congestive heart failure and risk factors such as, diabetes hypertension, obesity, dyslipidemia and smoking (current or past).

A total of 1465 participants had a minimum of one cardiovascular condition or risk factor. The prevalence of risk factors was higher in men compared to women; 83% men had at least one risk factor vs 75% for women.

Most heart diseases were found to have a strong association with cognitive function among women with a 2-fold greater decline in composite cognitive test scores in women with heart disease compared to men. An association between diabetes, heart disease and dyslipidemia and decrease in language z-score was noted only in women, whereas the association of language z-score decline with congestive heart failure was observed only among the male participants.

This study has only demonstrated an association and not established a cause-and-effect relationship. Further research is needed to better understand how sex differences affect cognition in both men and women. Early management of the modifiable CVD risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia as well as treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD) may have a favorable impact on cognition and delay its manifestation. Cognitive decline is considered a part of normal aging, but as per this study, middle-aged individuals, women in particular, should regularly undergo screening for cognitive decline. Timely detection of even the smallest of changes can help to prevent or delay the onset of dementia.

Reference

1. Huo N, et al. Sex differences in the association between midlife cardiovascular conditions or risk factors with midlife cognitive decline. Neurology. 2022 Jan 5;10.1212/WNL.0000000000013174. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000013174.