Researchers found that older women with heart disease were three
times more likely to go on to develop problems with their
thinking skills, such as problem solving, language and judgment
than healthy women. The problems are associated with certain
types of dementia although do not involve memory loss. The
findings from the Mayo Clinic in America, were published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology. It is
thought that heart disease affects the general health of the
blood vessels which may affect blood flow to the brain. Lead
author, Dr Rosebud Roberts, a health sciences researcher at Mayo
Clinic in Rochester, said: "Prevention and management of cardiac
disease and vascular risk factors are likely to reduce the risk.
The team evaluated 2,719 people aged between 70 to 89 at the
beginning of the study and every 15 months after. Of the 1,450
without mild cognitive impairment at the beginning, 669 had
heart disease and 59 or 8.8 per cent, developed nonamenestic
mild cognitive impairment. By