By focusing on a list of 12 steps covering modifiable behaviours, adults can greatly reduce their risk of developing brain diseases such as dementia and stroke, according to a new study.
The list, which looks at physical, lifestyle, and social-emotional components of health, was developed and validated in research published in Frontiers in Neurology by investigators from the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and their collaborators in the United States and Europe.
For the study, the scientists derived a baseline Brain Care Score (BCS) at the start of enrolment for 398,990 adults aged 40–69 years in the UK Biobank.
The three categories:
- Physical components of the brain score relate to blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and body mass index.
- Lifestyle components include nutrition, alcohol consumption, smoking, aerobic activities and sleep.
- Social-emotional components involve stress management, social relationships and meaning in life.
In the original BCS, scores range from 0–21, with a higher score indicating better brain care. Because the UK Biobank had collected nearly all, but not all, components of the BCS in its study design, scores in the UK Biobank ranged from 0-19.
During a median follow-up of 12.5 years, there were 5,354 new cases of dementia and 7,259 strokes among the 398,990 UK Biobank participants in the study.
Investigators found that those with a higher BCS had a lower risk of developing dementia or stroke as they aged.
For example, each five-point positive difference in the BCS was associated with a 59 percent lower risk of developing dementia and a 48% lower risk for experiencing a stroke among adults younger than 50 years old at enrolment.
Similar estimates were found for participants aged 50–59 years (32% lower risk of dementia and 52% lower risk of stroke). Estimates for those older than 59 years (8% lower risk of dementia and 33 percent lower risk of stroke) were lower. The authors concluded that these lower estimates were because dementia in individuals in this age group can often be more slowly progressive. As a result early dementia can often be missed until it progresses further.