Atrial fibrillation, the most common type of heart rhythm disturbance, is associated with an increased risk of various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, reports the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The discovery was made by scientists from the Group Health Research Institute. The incidence of both atrial fibrillation and dementia is known to increase with age. The flicker, causing blood clots, can block the vessels that supply the blood to the brain, resulting in a stroke. However, American researchers suspected that flickering affects the brain in a more subtle way as well.
Scientists as part of the long-distance project Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) conducted research on a group of people who at the beginning of the experiment were on average 74 years old – atrial fibrillation occurred in 4,3 percent of the respondents. of them, and no one has yet had dementia or a stroke. During an average of 7 years of observation, atrial fibrillation developed in 4,3% of patients. respondents, and dementia – in 18,8 percent. Dementia by 40 to 50 percent it was more common in people with atrial fibrillation, even if they had not had a stroke.
According to the researchers, dementia may be favored by, among other things, poorer heart function and, consequently, poorer oxygenation of the brain, an increased risk of clinically undetectable micro-strokes caused by small clots, and likely inflammatory changes. Further research is expected to find out if and how treatment of atrial fibrillation can prevent dementia (PAP).