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Cerebrovascular disease often linked to Alzheimer’s disease

Cerebrovascular disease is often associated with Alzheimer’s disease, and especially with cognitive decline, according to researchers.

“While there are no dramatic new implications yet for clinical care, our hope is that the roadmap this paper sets forth for further research will help us understand how treating cerebrovascular disease and its risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension, might help to reduce the burden of dementia,” David Knopman, MD, professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn., told Healio.com/Psychiatry.

Knopman, also a practicing neurologist at the Mayo Clinic and vice chair of the Alzheimer’s Association Medical and Scientific Advisory Council, and colleagues wrote that new research tools are needed to better understand the roles of the following:

• Lipid metabolism on amyloid deposition and cognitive/behavioral changes;
• Cell types of the innate and adaptive immune system;
• Vascular injury and response to injury;
• Mechanisms of brain blood flow;
• Small vessel disease and blood-brain barrier breakdown;
• Reduced blood flow and its impact on blood pressure;
• Genetic mechanisms;
• Mixed etiology Alzheimer’s disease dementia; and
• Interventions.

“Physicians currently advise patients to treat diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia, avoid smoking, exercise regularly, avoid obesity, and follow a healthy diet to encourage cardiovascular health,” Knopman told Healio.com/Psychiatry. “Our goal is to continue to emphasize that approach but importantly, to take a step forward. By better understanding the underlying cerebrovascular contributions to dementia, we may be able to uncover new therapies that can slow or stop cognitive decline.” – by Samantha Costa

Disclosure: See the study for the full list of the researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.