The research, based on brain scans of nearly 40,000 adults aged between 44 and 82 in Britain, was published Wednesday in Nature Communications.
These vulnerable brain regions develop during adolescence and help the brain process and integrate “information from different modalities and different senses,” he said. Gwenaëlle DouaudAssociate Professor at Oxford University and co-author of the study. But “when we get old, they’re the first to go.”
“What we’re trying to do is: What are the common risk factors for dementia that are affecting these regions?” Doud said. “These three are the most harmful, but obviously, the others, they have an impact.”
- Researchers from the UK Biobank studied brain scans of nearly 40,000 relatively healthy participants to investigate genetic and modifiable risk factors that contribute to vulnerability to “the most vulnerable parts of the brain”.
- The study examined 161 modifiable risk factors, including blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, weight, alcohol consumption, smoking, mood, inflammation, pollution, hearing, sleep, socialization, diet, physical activity and education.
- A diagnosis of diabetes, levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air and how often a person drinks alcohol — from never to daily or almost daily — have been found to be three of the most damaging risk factors for these brain regions, Dowd said.
- Diabetes, air pollution and alcohol consumption each have an effect It’s twice as likely as the other major risk factors, Dowd said. The main risk factors are sleep, weight, smoking and blood pressure.
- Researchers have identified seven gene clusters that affect these vulnerable parts of the brain, some of which are linked to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Dowd says that genetic and modifiable risk factors are not equivalent.
great 55 million people Worldwide, people are living with dementia, and this figure is expected to rise to 153 million by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
Dementia is a loss of cognitive function, and the symptoms are caused by brain neurons losing their connection with other brain cells and eventually dying. National Institute on Aging. Everyone loses neurons over time, but the loss is more significant in people with dementia.
Diabetes and alcohol consumption “were consistently associated with both cerebral and cognitive decline,” the researchers wrote in a Nature Communications study. And there is increasing evidence that exposure to air pollution can lead to cognitive decline and dementia.
2020 Lancet Report A dozen modifiable risk factors for dementia, such as high blood pressure, hearing loss, smoking and obesity, account for up to 40 percent of dementia cases worldwide.
A person’s age, genes, and family history are factors that can increase the risk of a traumatic brain injury or stroke.
Gil LivingstonProfessor of Geriatrics at University College London and lead author of the book The 2020 Lancet report, the new study was “extremely interesting” but the participants in the UK Biobank were “a very healthy” and highly motivated group. The findings may not be applicable to the general population.
Still, they show that people can make decisions to slow cognitive decline as they age, Livingston said.
There are many things people can do in their daily lives to maintain cognitive health,” she said. “That only strengthens it.”
Try to eat a healthy and varied diet to lower your blood sugar, take steps to protect yourself from “traffic pollution” and drink alcohol in moderation, Douad said in an email.
“Certainly, some of this should not fall solely on individuals, and the burden should be shared with[local]governments that design supportive policies,” she said.
Livingston says social and physical activity — talking with friends and exercising — “make a big difference.” And stimulating experiences, like walking outside, “seeing different things,” can be helpful, she says.
According to Livingston, hearing loss, as a person ages, can take away opportunities for conversations that lead to “rapid brain stimulation.”
“And if you smoke, stop,” she said.
Marlene Simmons contributed to this report.