Report Highlights:
|
The same risk factors that contribute to heart disease being the leading cause of death worldwide also affect the growing global prevalence of brain diseases, including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, according to the American Association of Heart Disease. Heart for Heart Disease. and Stroke Statistics — 2022 Update, published in the Association’s flagship peer-reviewed journal, Circulation .
Experts say maintaining a healthy weight, controlling blood pressure, and following other heart-healthy lifestyle habits can also contribute to good brain health.
Optimal brain health includes the functional ability to perform all the various tasks for which the brain is responsible, including movement, perception, learning and memory, communication, problem solving, judgment, decision making and the emotion.
Cognitive decline and dementia are often seen after stroke and cerebrovascular disease and indicate a decline in brain health. In contrast, studies show that maintaining good vascular health is associated with healthy aging and retained cognitive function.
The global death rate from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is increasing sharply, even more than the death rate from heart disease:
- Globally, more than 54 million people had Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in 2020, representing a 37% increase since 2010 and a 144% increase over the past 30 years (1990-2020).
- More than 1.89 million deaths were attributed to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias worldwide in 2020, compared to nearly 9 million deaths from heart disease.
- Global deaths from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias increased more than 44% between 2010 and 2020, compared with a 21% increase in deaths from heart disease.
- Deaths from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias have increased 184% over the past 30 years (1990-2020), compared to a 66% increase in deaths from heart disease over the same period.
Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks prevalence and mortality data differently in the U.S. compared to other countries, the Statistical Update does not provide comparable national data for 2020.
However, nearly 2.9 million people in the US were reported to have Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in 2017. Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias combined were the leading cause of death among all neurological disorders, including accident cerebrovascular.
“The global rate of brain disease is rapidly surpassing heart disease. The rate of deaths from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias has more than doubled in the last decade compared to the rate of deaths from heart disease, and that’s something we need to address,” said Mitchell SV Elkind, MDMS, FAHA, immediate past president of the American Heart Association, professor of neurology and epidemiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and attending neurologist at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY.
“We are learning more about how some types of dementia are related to aging and how some types are due to poor vascular health. Many studies show that the same healthy lifestyle behaviors that can help improve a person’s heart health can also preserve or even improve brain health. “It is becoming increasingly clear that reducing risk factors for vascular disease can make a real difference in helping people live longer, healthier lives, free of heart and brain disease.”
The 2022 Statistical Update highlights some of that research:
- In a meta-analysis of 139 studies, people with hypertension in midlife were five times more likely to experience declines in global cognition and almost twice as likely to experience reduced executive function, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease.
- Nearly half of all adults (47%, or 121.5 million) in the U.S. have high blood pressure, based on data from 2015 to 2018.
- In a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies with up to 42 years of follow-up, people with obesity had three times the risk of dementia.
- Current smoking was associated with a 30% to 40% increased risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular dementia, according to a meta-analysis of 37 prospective studies.
Having cardiovascular disease also increases your chances of developing brain disease:
- In a meta-analysis of four longitudinal studies, the risk of dementia associated with heart failure was almost double.
- In the ARIC Neurocognitive study (12,515 participants, mean age 57 years, 24% black participants, 56% women), atrial fibrillation was associated with greater cognitive decline and dementia over 20 years.
- A meta-analysis of 10 prospective studies (including 24,801 participants) found that coronary heart disease was associated with a 40% increased risk of poor cognitive outcomes, such as dementia, cognitive impairment, or cognitive decline.
There are also significant differences in the gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status of people who are more likely to develop brain diseases and dementia, an indication that social determinants of health also play a role:
Of the more than 54 million cases of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias worldwide in 2020, nearly 20 million were among men, compared to nearly 35 million women. More than twice as many women as men died from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
A retrospective analysis of data from the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System found significant differences in subjective cognitive impairment among non-white racial and ethnic groups compared to white adults in the 20,843 respondents who reported being diagnosed with an accident cerebrovascular.
Compared with white adults, other racial and ethnic groups were more likely to report worsening confusion or memory loss contributing to not participating in daily activities or difficulty with work, volunteering, and social activities outside of work. home at least part of the time.
After adjustment for sex, age, education, income, and comorbidities, black adults were one and a half times more likely and Hispanic adults were more than twice as likely as white adults to abandon daily household activities or tasks due to confusion or memory loss.
Black adults were nearly three times as likely and Hispanic adults were more than four times as likely to report needing help with activities of daily living compared to white adults. These findings are likely due to social determinants of health that negatively impact communities of color across the lifespan, Elkind advised.
Estimated U.S. spending on dementia more than doubled, from $38.6 billion in 1996 to $79.2 billion in 2016. Dementia spending was among the top 10 health care costs in the United States in 2016.
"Like cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and other cognitive ailments are a tremendous emotional and economic burden worldwide," said Connie W. Tsao, MD, MPH, FAHA, chair of the writing group of Statistical Update, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and attending cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “This new chapter on brain health was essential to add. The data we’ve collected brings to light the strong correlations between heart health and brain health and makes it an easy story to tell: what’s good for the heart is good for the brain."
In recent years, the American Heart Association has supported more than $46 million in research funding focused on brain health. In a $43 million collaboration with The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, the Partnership is funding three projects now underway to find innovative ways to understand and improve brain health and the science of cognitive decline.
A $3.3 million grant in collaboration with global philanthropist and technology visionary Bill Gates is committed to advancing the scientific evidence base related to brain health and dementia. The project supports a new brain health and dementia technology research center at Boston University.
Additionally, it will support the global sharing of research data to help scientists around the world work collectively to accelerate new discoveries related to heart and brain health, including the early detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
“Advancing brain science through innovative research will help scientists shed new light on the causes and contributing factors of cognitive decline and dementia, particularly as it relates to heart and vascular health. “This is an important step in the Association’s ongoing commitment to better understand how our brains age and how vascular health impacts brain health and overall well-being,” said Elkind, who is a member of the Statistical Update writing committee. “Furthermore, it is essential that we, as a society and as individuals, understand and make the necessary changes to improve the health outcomes of brain diseases and, more importantly, prevent them in the first place.”
Along with new information on brain health, the 2022 Statistical Update provides the latest available data on key factors linked to heart disease and stroke:
|
Tracking such trends is one reason the American Heart Association annually publishes the definitive statistical update, which provides a comprehensive resource of the most current data, relevant scientific findings, and assessment of the impact of cardiovascular disease worldwide. national and global.
U.S. data is collected in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies, while global trends are provided by the University’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease Study from Washington.
The annual update represents a compilation of the most recent and relevant statistics on heart disease, stroke and risk factors that affect cardiovascular health. Tracks trends related to ideal cardiovascular health, social determinants of health, global cardiovascular health, genetics of cardiovascular health, and healthcare costs.
Tsao emphasized the importance of this surveillance as a critical resource for the general public, policymakers, media professionals, physicians, healthcare administrators, researchers, health advocates, and others seeking the best available data on these factors and conditions.
This statistical update was prepared by a volunteer writing group on behalf of the Epidemiology and Prevention Statistics Committee of the Council of the American Heart Association and the Stroke Statistics Subcommittee.
