dementia risk

Repetitive negative thinking may increase (or perhaps be caused by) cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s pathology

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Dementia: negative thinking linked with more rapid cognitive decline, study indicates

Demen­tia affects an esti­mat­ed 54 mil­lion peo­ple world­wide. There no cure, but reports indi­cate that approx­i­mate­ly a third of demen­tia cas­es may be pre­ventable, which is why many researchers have begun to focus on iden­ti­fy­ing risk fac­tors. This would allow for bet­ter per­son­alised inter­ven­tions that may be able to reduce risk, delay, or even pre­vent the onset of dementia.

Cur­rent research shows that genet­ics, high blood pres­sure, and smok­ing are all risk fac­tors for devel­op­ing demen­tia. But a lot of peo­ple don’t realise that there is also a rela­tion­ship between men­tal ill-health and high­er demen­tia risk too. Stud­ies have shown that depres­sion, anx­i­ety, and post trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der are all linked to a high­er risk of devel­op­ing demen­tia in old­er age. Our recent study builds on this research by exam­in­ing whether a style of think­ing that is com­mon to these men­tal health con­di­tions is asso­ci­at­ed with indi­ca­tors of Alzheimer’s dis­ease, the most com­mon type of dementia.

Peo­ple expe­ri­enc­ing men­tal ill health fre­quent­ly engage in a style of think­ing called “Repet­i­tive Neg­a­tive Think­ing”. This style of think­ing involves the ten­den­cy to have neg­a­tive thoughts about the future (wor­ry) or about the past (rumi­na­tion), and these thoughts can feel uncontrollable.

In 2015, I devel­oped a hypoth­e­sis called [Read more…] about Repet­i­tive neg­a­tive think­ing may increase (or per­haps be caused by) cog­ni­tive decline and Alzheimer’s pathology

Study challenges the “seductive” amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)

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Vas­cu­lar Health at Age 36 Tied to Brain Health at 70 (Med­page Today):

“A lon­gi­tu­di­nal study shed light on just how ear­ly peo­ple may want to start doing some­thing to reduce their demen­tia risk decades in the future.

Each 1% increase in Fram­ing­ham vas­cu­lar risk score at age 36 was asso­ci­at­ed with 9% high­er white mat­ter hyper­in­ten­si­ty vol­ume … (how­ev­er) Vas­cu­lar risk scores were not linked to beta-amy­loid sta­tus at any point. [Read more…] about Study chal­lenges the “seduc­tive” amy­loid hypoth­e­sis of Alzheimer’s dis­ease (AD)

Update: Common anticholinergic meds seen to increase dementia risk

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Dear read­er,

It’s time for Sharp­Brains e‑newsletter dis­cussing the lat­est research and inno­va­tions to help pro­mote brain health, open­ing in this occa­sion with a large and wor­ry­ing study track­ing the long-term neur­al impact of com­mon­ly pre­scribed medications.

New brain research:

New brain technology:

New brain thinking:

 

Last but not least, here is a fun brain teas­er for the week­end.  What do you see?

 

Have a great month of July,

 

The Sharp­Brains Team

First, do no harm? Common anticholinergic meds seen to increase dementia risk in older patients

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Com­mon­ly Pre­scribed Meds Could Raise Demen­tia Risk (Web­MD):

“Doc­tors often pre­scribe anti­cholin­er­gic drugs for a vari­ety of ills. But a new study sug­gests they may increase the risk of demen­tia in old­er patients.

These med­i­cines include every­thing from Benadryl (diphen­hy­dramine) to cer­tain antipsy­chotics and Parkin­son’s meds. They’re used to treat a wide range of oth­er con­di­tions, includ­ing depres­sion, chron­ic obstruc­tive pul­monary dis­ease, over­ac­tive blad­der, aller­gies, and gas­troin­testi­nal disorders.

Anti­cholin­er­gic drugs help con­tract and relax mus­cles, and work by block­ing acetyl­choline, a chem­i­cal that trans­mits mes­sages in the ner­vous sys­tem … the new British study found that peo­ple aged 55 and old­er who took strong anti­cholin­er­gic med­ica­tions dai­ly for three years or more had a 50% increased risk of demen­tia [Read more…] about First, do no harm? Com­mon anti­cholin­er­gic meds seen to increase demen­tia risk in old­er patients

Study: Common medication treatments for PTSD can increase the risk of developing dementia

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Drugs for PTSD linked to increased risk of demen­tia (The Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Journal):

“Cer­tain psy­chotrop­ic drugs used to treat post-trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der (PTSD) increase the risk of devel­op­ing demen­tia, includ­ing in patients who do not have PTSD but take the drugs for oth­er con­di­tions, study results pub­lished in the Jour­nal of the Amer­i­can Geri­atrics Soci­ety [Read more…] about Study: Com­mon med­ica­tion treat­ments for PTSD can increase the risk of devel­op­ing dementia

New studies reinforce Education and Cognitive Reserve –instead of drugs targeting beta amyloid– as most promising avenue to prolong cognitive health and reduce dementia risk

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dementia-progressionDemen­tia Risk Declines, And Edu­ca­tion May Be One Rea­son Why (NPR):

“Some encour­ag­ing news in the bat­tle against Alzheimer’s dis­ease and oth­er forms of demen­tia: The rate at which old­er Amer­i­cans are get­ting these con­di­tions is declin­ing. That’s accord­ing to [Read more…] about New stud­ies rein­force Edu­ca­tion and Cog­ni­tive Reserve –instead of drugs tar­get­ing beta amy­loid– as most promis­ing avenue to pro­long cog­ni­tive health and reduce demen­tia risk