Aging BiologyClinical Research Cognitive Health
Individuals who have one or more heart attacks in their lifetime may experience faster long-term cognitive decline, according to an NIA-funded study. Heart attacks were not associated with cognitive decline immediately following the event. The findings, published in JAMA Neurology, suggest that heart attacks are an important risk factor for cognitive decline, even after someone has recovered from the heart attack itself.
Participants who had a heart attack generally did not have any change in cognitive function at the time of the event. However, in the years that followed, they had faster rates of cognitive decline than those who had never had a heart attack.
These results add to a growing amount of evidence pointing toward a link between heart and brain health.
This research was supported in part by NIA grants R01AG051827 and K01AG050699
