Higher cardiovascular risk score linked to lower cognitive function

用于预测心血管疾病的风险计算器也可能有助于预测一个人的认知功能低下, new research suggests.

The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, found that the higher a person's 10-year cardiovascular risk score, the worse they scored on tests for cognitive function, 大量证据表明，控制心脏健康风险因素可能有助于保护大脑健康.

“我们知道心血管疾病与认知能力下降或痴呆有很多共同的风险因素," said study co-author Jingkai Wei, 他拥有流行病学博士学位，是南卡罗来纳大学哥伦比亚分校阿诺德公共卫生学院的助理教授. 结果表明，心血管疾病风险评分每增加5%可能与认知功能下降有关, he said.

心血管疾病包括心脏病、中风、心力衰竭和高血压. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., with stroke at No. 5. About 5.8 million U.S. adults have some form of dementia.

先前的研究已经表明，在已有健康状况的人群中，心血管风险评分较高与认知功能较差之间存在关联. 这项新研究在更大的普通人群样本中调查了心血管风险评分与认知功能之间的联系，以及种族和民族亚群体之间的差异.

弗雷明汉风险评分用于计算一个人在10年和一生中患心血管疾病的风险. The score is calculated using age, sex, race, total cholesterol, "good" HDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure (the top number), whether a person takes blood pressure-lowering medication, and whether they have diabetes or smoke.

In the study, 研究人员分析了2011年至2014年全国健康和营养检查调查的数据,254 adults, ages 60 and older, who had not previously been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. 研究人员利用调查问卷和血液胆固醇测试中的自我报告数据，计算出参与者10年的弗雷明汉风险评分, glucose and hemoglobin A1C levels. Multiple blood pressure readings also were taken and averaged. The risk scores were then classified as low, medium or high.

认知功能是通过三个测试来测量的——建立阿尔茨海默病单词表记忆任务注册联盟, Digital Symbol Substitution Test and Animal Fluency Test.

弗雷明汉风险得分中、高的参与者认知得分低于心血管风险得分低的参与者. As Framingham scores increased, overall cognitive test scores dropped.

“这增加了越来越多的证据，表明照顾心血管健康很重要, not just for cardiac outcomes, but for brain health outcomes," said Dr. Kristine Yaffe, 加州大学威尔神经科学研究所的教授, San Francisco. Yaffe was not involved with the study.

"What's good for the heart is good for the brain," she said.

However, the results differed among subgroups. 心血管风险因素与西班牙裔人较差的认知功能有关, but the link was strongest among non-Hispanic white people. 较高的心血管风险评分和较低的认知功能之间的联系在黑人中并不成立.

这并不意味着心血管风险因素不会导致黑人的认知能力下降, Wei said, 他指出，在长达数十年的弗雷明汉心脏研究中，参与者主要是欧洲血统的白人.

他说:“计算器可能不能很好地预测非裔美国人的结果。.

研究结果可能表明，减少心血管风险因素可能是预防认知能力下降的一种策略, Wei said.

虽然弗雷明汉计算器中的一些风险因素无法改变, many can be, Yaffe said.

"There's not much you can do about your age," she said. “但如果你有高血压等风险因素，你可以确保, diabetes, high cholesterol or obesity, 你和你的医疗保健专业人员一起工作，确保你得到治疗，并参与健康的生活方式行为，比如锻炼和健康的饮食."