Better cardiovascular health was linked to slower cognitive decline in people with genetic variants for frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), a process that happens with frontotemporal dementia, a new study finds.
This means that maintaining healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels could help those who are at a higher risk for FTLD.
A person’s lifestyle plays a part in the buildup of frontal white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) in FTLD, the authors pointed out. (Having WMHs is linked to cognitive decline.)
The authors said that better cardiovascular health at the start of the study was tied to greater baseline volume in the frontotemporal lobe, but there wasn’t a link with frontotemporal volume trajectories, according to a report published Sept. 6 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
Researchers looked at 247 adults who had genetic variants for FTLD, and compared them with 189 people who were not carriers of the variants. The participants underwent neuroimaging and neuropsychological testing. The team also used Life’s Simple 7 (LS7), a composite measure of cardiovascular health previously associated with reduced dementia risk.
Of those carrying the variant, those with a better LS7 score at baseline accumulated frontal WMHs more slowly, and had slower declines in memory and language skills. That link was stronger in those with the variant compared to those without. In short, better cardiovascular health is linked to slower cognitive decline, even if you have a variant linked to FTLD, so improving it could be a modifiable way to improve brain health and slow down the process of cognitive decline.
Blood pressure and cholesterol levels, two indicators of cardiovascular health, had the largest individual associations with positive cognitive trajectories. The positive association of cardiovascular health on clinical trajectories was strongest in those who carried variants of MAPT and C9orf72 genes. A JAMA Neurology report out last year suggested that better cardiovascular health (including healthier brain vessels) could be behind the decline in dementia in the United States over recent decades, though the pathologies haven’t gone down.
