Resting Heart Rate Linked to Dementia

A Swedish population-based cohort study suggested that higher resting heart rate (RHR) was associated with increased risk for dementia and faster cognitive decline independent of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a general population of elderly people. The study included 2147 participants (age≥60) who were free of dementia and regularly followed from 2001–2004 to 2013–2016. RHR≥80 (vs. 60–69) bpm was associated with a multi-adjusted hazard ratio of 1.55 for dementia. The association remained significant after excluding participants with prevalent and incident CVD. Similarly, RHR≥80 bpm was associated with a multi-adjusted β-coefficient of –0.13 for Mini-Mental State Examination score. The findings are consistent with previous studies of middle-aged adults and post-ischemic stroke patients and add to the growing body of evidence showing the health of the heart and brain are closely connected. Source: https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/