The 2022 update of the AHA's Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics emphasizes the bidirectional relationship between brain and heart health.
Globally, the number of dementia cases and deaths has increased alarmingly over the past 3 decades, more than heart disease.
Modifying risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and high cholesterol, may promote healthy aging and prevent cognitive decline.
Current evidence suggests a robust connection between brain health and cardiovascular health. Damage to the heart and blood vessels can increase a person's risk of stroke and dementia.
A stroke occurs when a clot blocks blood flow or when a blood vessel ruptures in the brain. Strokes cause the death of brain tissue, sometimes resulting in a decline in memory and profound disability.
Additionally, the cumulative effect of multiple small silent strokes, which health experts call mini stroke. Can cause vascular dementia. Dementia can have a detrimental impact on memory, cognitive functioning, and personality.
The AHA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) update vital heart disease and stroke statistics annually. Their joint report highlights data related to important modifiable risk factors affecting cardiovascular health and outcomes associated with the quality of care, procedures, and economic costs for cardiovascular related conditions. The AHA Council on Epidemiology and Prevention Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee recently published "the Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2022 update: A Report from the American Heart Association" in the AHA's peer-reviewed journal Circulation
According to 2020 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study data, the number of people worldwide with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia increased at a greater rate than that of people with ischemic heart disease (I HD). From 1990 to2020, the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias increased about 144% globally, compared with 120% for I HD.
The study reports more dramatic differences in Alzheimer's disease and related dementia's death rates during the same time frame, with an approximately 185% increase in Alzheimer's disease and related dementia's deaths and a 66% increase in I HD related deaths.
A systematic analysis of the 2017 GBD study the most recent data available reports that 2.9 million people in the United States had an Alzheimer's disease or Alzheimer's disease and related dementia's diagnosis.
It is the fourth most prevalent neurological disorder in the US, as well as the leading cause of death from neurological disease, surpassing Stroke.
There is also a significant economic burden associated with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia's Between 1996 and 2016, US spending on dementias increased twofold, from about $39 billion to $79 billion.
Risk factors for disease
Dr. Mitchell El kind, the immediate past president of the AHA, a professor of neurology and epidemiology at Columbia University Tangelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and attending neurologist at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, spoke with Medical News Today about the new updates.
"Heart disease and brain disease share many of the same risk factor. Cardiovascular disease risk factors, or the health behaviors and conditions that can lead to heart attacks, include high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol, and obesity,".
Smoking also remains an important risk factor. A meta analysis of 37 studies demonstrated that people who smoked at the time had a 30% increased risk of dementia, a 40% higher risk of Alzheimer's disease, and a 38% increased risk of vascular dementia.
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