A large waistline, high blood sugar, or cholesterol problem is each cause for concern. Having all three risk factors together is called metabolic syndrome.
A new study of data from nearly two million people from the Korean National Health Insurance Service who underwent health checkups links metabolic syndrome to an increased risk for young-onset dementia. That’s dementia before age 65.
Dr. Claudia Perez, a neurointensivist with Texas Health Fort Worth, tells KERA’s Sam Baker that risk factors in metabolic syndrome can put you at risk for brain damage.
Dr. Perez: High blood pressure can lead to inefficient oxygen used by the brain, which can lead to what's called hypoperfusion. So not big strokes, but small hits to the brain from lack of oxygen over time.
Things such as high cholesterol and high sugar can lead to breakdown in the blood-brain barrier that can lead to inflammation, specifically neuroinflammation. That can cause damage to the brain. It primes the brain to be more vulnerable.
So, if somebody already has a risk factor to develop dementia, they don't have as much of what we would call cognitive reserve. So the brain isn't as healthy to withstand the changes that come with dementia.
Baker: Are we talking metabolic syndrome as a direct cause of dementia or perhaps a correlation between the two?
The study can only speak to a correlation. We're not saying it's the cause of dementia necessarily, but it definitely increases the risk factor for development of dementia earlier on or this young onset dementia.
Now, according to the study, people with metabolic syndrome were maybe 24% more likely to develop dementia at a young age, meaning before 65. That doesn't sound terribly high.
It was only less than a half-percent of the population that ended up developing young-onset dementia. But whenever we look at that smaller group, we see that that risk factor's there.
The reason this is concerning is that whenever we extrapolate that to the US population, 33% of Americans meet criteria for metabolic syndrome. And population studies, you know, looking back at an article from JAMA in 2020, whenever we look at the incidence of how has metabolic syndrome changed over time, while in the general population, metabolic syndrome has stayed pretty constant, especially for young people between the ages of 20 to 40 and women and Asian and Hispanics.
The rate of metabolic syndrome has significantly increased. So definitely, something to be on the lookout for.
In other words, another good reason to watch out for your health.
And understanding that these changes begin early on, and while they might not be apparent early in life, they may end up having an impact later on.
These factors that make up metabolic syndrome are all preventable.
They are, and whenever we think about brain health over the lifespan, we want to emphasize prevention. So, thinking about things that can make us live healthier throughout our lifetime.
The things we do like:
- diet
- physical activity
- our sleep health
- our weight, our BMI
- no smoking
- keeping up with routine medical checkups to follow glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
Because if we do end up having any of these medical conditions, we can do something about treating them and reducing the risk.
RESOURCES:
Association Between Metabolic Syndrome and Young-Onset Dementia: A Nationwide Population-Based Study
