Around 7.2 million Americans are currently estimated to have Alzheimer’s disease,and experts such as those at the National Health Institute say that number could grow to 13.8 million by 2060. As researchers say that indicates clinicians will face “major challenges” in coming years, they are urging people to take a closer look into the lifestyle habits that could help prevent cognitive decline.
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“While deaths from cardiovascular disease have declined since 2000, deaths from Alzheimer’s disease have surged by more than 140%,” Dr. Charles H. Hennekens, a professor of Medicine and Preventive Medicine at the Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine, told Science Daily. “At the same time, it is estimated that up to 45% of dementia risk could be attributed to modifiable lifestyle and environmental factors.”
Hennekens is one of the co-authors of a commentary in “The American Journal of Medicine” that details some of these, which include: physical inactivity; unhealthy diets; obesity and alcohol consumption. Also included are medical conditions like dyslipidemias, hypertension, diabetes and depression as well as social isolation and intellectual inactivity.
On the flip side, there are “therapeutic lifestyle” changes that could help decrease cognitive decline in elderly patients that have been proven to help those with cardiovascular disease as well as other illnesses, researchers wrote.
These changes include physical activity, adhering to diets like the Mediterranean or DASH diet, and not smoking.
“Therapeutic lifestyle changes, if demonstrated to be beneficial, would have major clinical and public health implications in reducing cognitive decline in the US and worldwide,” researchers said in the commentary. “This possibility is of even greater importance given the interrelationships of cognitive decline with increasing age as well as the increasing proportion of U.S. and other populations of the elderly.”
Researchers highlighted the results of the Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Interventions to Reduce Risk, or POINTER, trial, where 2,111 men and women between 60 and 79 years old who were at high risk for cognitive decline because of risk factors were given either a “high intensity lifestyle intervention” or a self-guided program.
Those in the high intensity lifestyle intervention group had meetings in person, professional guidance and accountability measures, while the ones who were self-guided had educational materials and “general support.” Those in the former group, during the POINTER trial, “demonstrated statistically significant and clinically important improvements in global cognition,” particularly when it came to planning, attention and problem solving. Another trial, Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER,) had similar results.
“There are implications for clinical practice, public health, and government policy, as well as further research,” researchers wrote. “Clinicians will now be armed with lifestyle-based changes to reduce cognitive decline. In addition, public health practitioners may also add to their programs based on the study designs of POINTER and FINGER to maintain brain health, complementing pharmacologic approaches.”
Not only can these findings be beneficial from a health perspective — researchers said they also could lead to cost savings. Early attention to risk factors of dementia could reduce people’s medical and caregiving costs, as well as the “expensive costs of the newly developed pharmacologic agents,” some of which offer modest benefits but side effects including “loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, headache, fatigue and restlessness,” researchers noted.
“While more research is needed, the current totality of evidence supports a clear path forward: invest in lifestyle-based strategies to protect brain health,” Hennekens said to Science Daily. “Doing so will not only benefit individuals at risk but also serve as a powerful tool for reducing national and global health care burdens related to cognitive decline.”
