, new research suggests. New findings from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study show that individuals who had better cardiovascular health in their 20s scored higher on tests of thinking and memory 30 years later than their peers who had poorer cardiovascular health as young adults.
“We have learned that midlife vascular risk factors, rather than risk factors in older age, are particularly associated with cognition in older age,” study author Farzaneh Sorond, MD, PhD, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, told Medscape Medical News
“Our findings from the CARDIA study expand this knowledge and show that vascular health during young adulthood, rather than midlife, is also specifically associated with brain vascular health and cognitive function” in later life, Dr. Sorond said.
“These results indicate that people need to pay close attention to their health even in their early 20s,” she added in a statement.
The findings were released February 26 ahead of the study’s scheduled presentation at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology. The AAN canceled the meeting and released abstracts and access to presenters for press coverage.
Early prevention key
The analysis examined data from 189 participants (45% women, 45% black) in the CARDIA study who were followed for 30 years. The mean age at baseline was 24 years.
Vascular risk factors were assessed eight times during the 30-year study period. A cardiovascular health score (range, 0 – 10) was calculated on the basis of smoking status, body mass index, blood pressure, total cholesterol level, and fasting glucose level.
At the final assessment, which was conducted 30 years after baseline, dynamic cerebral autoregulation was calculated as the transfer function phase of the spontaneous oscillations in blood pressure and flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery using transcranial Doppler ultrasound.