What is the relationship between heart disease and cognitive decline?

What is the relationship between heart disease and cognitive decline?

A large study in the United Kingdom linked irregular heartbeats to cognitive decline, the latest in a growing body of evidence suggesting a significant relationship between common heart diseases and the risk of dementia, according to what was published by New Atlas, citing the JACC journal.

Researchers from University College London (UCL) studied 4.3 million individuals in a primary electronic health record in the United Kingdom to identify 233,833 people with the common heart condition, atrial fibrillation (AF), and 233,747 people without it.

Taking comorbidities and obvious risk factors into account, the researchers found a 45% increased likelihood of developing MCI in the group with new diagnoses of the heart condition and who had not received medical treatment for it.

Lead study author Dr Ruy Providencia, Professor at UCL's Institute of Health Informatics, said: “Our study showed that atrial fibrillation was associated with a 45% increase in the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment, and that cardiovascular risk factors and multiple comorbidities are associated with this outcome.”

Early cognitive decline

The University College London study's findings are consistent with a 2019 South Korean study, which also found a strong link between the two conditions. Cognitive decline can sometimes be treated in early stage MCI and may also be an early warning sign of possible dementia-related illness.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of arrhythmia treated and can be described as a heart beating too slowly, too fast, or simply irregularly. The root cause of this condition is irregular coordination in the upper chambers (atria) of the heart, which affects how blood flows to the lower chambers (ventricles).

“The progression from mild cognitive impairment to dementia appears to be, at least in part, mediated by cardiovascular risk factors and the presence of multiple comorbidities,” Dr. Providencia said. While many factors such as gender and other conditions such as depression can influence the risk of mild cognitive impairment, these factors did not change the link researchers found between atrial fibrillation and mild cognitive impairment.

Drug therapy and clinical trials

Medication turns out to be one factor that appears to play a large role in mediating risk, as researchers found that for individuals with atrial fibrillation who were treated with digoxin, oral anticoagulant therapy, and amiodarone therapy did not have a greater risk of cognitive impairment. Moderate compared to the group without atrial fibrillation.

The researchers add that the findings highlight the importance of diagnosing and treating atrial fibrillation, and a confirmed clinical trial could look deeper into this connection.

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