Health UK (Commonwealth Union) – In a study conducted by researchers at Oxford Population Health, a strong link was discovered between poor metabolic health and an elevated risk of dementia development among a cohort of over 176,000 individuals.
The definition of poor metabolic health in this context encompassed the presence of three or more of the following conditions: high waist circumference, elevated triglyceride levels, high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose levels, and low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, often referred to as ‘good’ cholesterol. This combination of health issues is commonly recognized as ‘metabolic syndrome,’ and it affects approximately 20-25% of adults across the globe. Metabolic syndrome has previously been associated with an increased likelihood of developing heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
To explore the connection between metabolic syndrome and the subsequent risk of dementia, the researchers conducted an analysis using data from over 176,000 participants enrolled in the UK Biobank study. These participants were tracked for their health outcomes through their medical records over a 15-year period. Importantly, all individuals in the study were aged 60 or older and were free of dementia at the outset, ensuring that the study focused on individuals at risk of developing dementia.
Key findings from the study include the observation that, at the outset, 73,510 participants, constituting 42% of the total cohort, exhibited metabolic syndrome. Within this group, the most prevalent conditions were high blood pressure (96%), followed by high triglycerides (74%), low HDL-cholesterol (72%), high waist circumference (70%), and high blood glucose (50%). Over a 15-year span, among the 176,249 individuals in the study, 5,255 went on to develop dementia. Those with metabolic syndrome had a 12% heightened risk of dementia development compared to those without metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, a higher number of metabolic syndrome conditions correlated with an increased risk of dementia; for instance, having four or five of these conditions, regardless of their specific combination, was associated with a 19% and 50% higher risk of dementia, respectively.
Danial Qureshi, who is the lead author and PhD candidate at Oxford Population Health, says “Our study findings suggest that early identification and management of metabolic syndrome could potentially reduce risk of developing dementia later in life. Metabolic syndrome is an especially promising target for prevention since each of its individual components are modifiable through lifestyle changes or pharmacological treatments. Learning more about this link is crucial, especially given the rapid increase in dementia cases worldwide and the limited number of effective treatments currently available.”
“There is growing evidence that better prevention, management and treatment of certain health conditions could reduce future risk of dementia. These findings suggest that it is also important to consider the role of multiple conditions, especially as we observed the greatest risk in those with all five components of metabolic syndrome,” explained Dr Thomas Littlejohns, who is the senior author as well as the Senior Epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health.
The research drew upon data from the UK Biobank, a cohort comprising over half a million women and men aged 40 to 69, who enrolled in the study between 2006 and 2010. All participants granted consent for their health status to be tracked through medical records, allowing for the detection of dementia diagnoses up to 15 years later.
The extended follow-up period is of significance because dementia typically manifests gradually over several years before it receives an official diagnosis from a healthcare professional. It’s plausible that poor metabolic health might be an outcome of how dementia affects the body. Nevertheless, the researchers discovered that the most robust connections between poor metabolic health and the risk of dementia emerged among those diagnosed with the disease more than a decade later. This presents encouraging evidence that poor metabolic health could play a pivotal role as a contributing factor, rather than being solely a consequence of dementia.
Many researchers from various studies have also emphasized the need to focus more on metabolism in health.
