The More You Do to Promote Your Cardiovascular Health, the Lower Your Risk of Dementia

A study of 6,626 seniors published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the better they scored on seven measures of cardiovascular health, the lower their risk of dementia over the ensuing years, reports the Los Angeles Times . Those metrics include diet, exercise, weight management, smoking status, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. There were few high scores, with only 6.5 percent of study participants having optimal measurements for at least five of the seven categories. Meanwhile, 36.4 percent of participants got optimal scores in no more than two categories. Among those with the lowest scores, dementia developed at a rate of 13.3 cases per 100 people; there were only 7.1 cases per 100 people among those with the highest scores. Among those with optimal levels for none or just one of the seven metrics, the diagnosis rate was 1.76 dementia cases per 100 person-years, which fell by about 10 percent for each additional metric that was at optimal levels.