A long-term study by Lund University, which has shed new light on one of the most feared consequences of aging, identified. Nearly half of dementia cases seem linked to modifiable risk factors, with smoking, raised blood pressure, heart disease and raised blood lipids leading the charge in the brain damage that causes vascular dementia. A team of researchers observed nearly 500 adults aged 65 and over with no cognitive impairment at baseline.

The subjects were tracked for four years as they showed subtle changes in white matter, the nerve fibers that connect the various parts of the brain. White matter changes are known to show up years before the patients experience memory loss or disorientation, and show up as a strong indicator for vascular dementia, the second largest causative factor for dementia after Alzheimer88s. What the scans showed was compelling.

Almost all the treatable factors looked at by the researchers that included smoking, cardiovascular disease, high blood lipids and high blood pressure were linked to damage to the blood vessels of the brain. These same factors also increased the rate of White Matter lesions accumulating. As doctorate student and neurology resident, Isabelle Glans, working on the project, determined vascular damage and damage to the blood vessels eventually damages blood flow until a patient suffers from vascular dementia.

The finding comes at a time when the world’s population of people with dementia continues to increase. Researchers have now established that about 45 per cent of all cases worldwide could be postponed or avoided by modifying a broader range of lifestyle and health attributes.

This new study focuses on the vascular component of the story and demonstrates how our regular behaviours gradually determine the brain’s resilience. What makes the research promising is Really it was done early. The participants were still cognitively healthy when the research started, but evidence of damage was already present.

There is the possibility that if blood pressure is brought under control, if the individual stops smoking, manages their cholesterol, and guards their heart from damage, this may slow the detrimental process that then steals away independence later on in life. It turns out that the brain is far more responsive to the same influences that tax the heart than many realize. Vascular dementia develops differently from Alzheimer’s disease alone.

It may deteriorate one step at a time rather than steadily and leave individuals with difficulties in planning, concentration or walking, not simply in their memory. Since vascular dementia is so linked to vascular health, being good to your vessels might help you keep your mind clearer for longer. Midlife itself is a familiar concept to all clinicians. More recently we have learned that individuals who live to be in their mid-fifties without smoking, hypertension and diabetes lives nearly 13 years longer dementia-free than those who have all three. This Lund study brings another dimension by illustrating the architectural change in the brain behind it.