Key result
Poor cardiovascular health was associated with a 14% increased risk of all-cause dementia and a 31% increased risk of all-cause mortality among UK older adults.
Why the study?
Previous research primarily evaluated individual cardiovascular health factors, but no study had examined cardiovascular health measures with Parkinson's disease, dementia, and mortality simultaneously while accounting for potential confounders.
Does poor cardiovascular health increase the risk of all-cause dementia, Parkinson's disease, and mortality in older adults?
Cohort (n=269,816)
Yes
Does poor cardiovascular health increase the risk of all-cause dementia, Parkinson's disease, and mortality in older adults?
Poor cardiovascular health is significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause dementia and all-cause mortality, highlighting the importance of managing cardiovascular risk factors to preserve cognitive health and longevity.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May support CV risk optimization to lower dementia and mortality risks in older adults; leaves open causality and PD links.
Previous research has primarily examined individual factors of cardiovascular health (CVH) and disease in PD and dementia, but no study has examined CVH measures with PD, dementia, and mortality simultaneously while accounting for potentially confounding factors. To examine the relationship between CVH, all-cause dementia, Parkinson's disease (PD), and mortality, focusing on associations and health transitions from a large population-based study. We investigated these relationships using Cox Proportional Hazards and multistate parametric models with Weibull regression from the UK Biobank data (n = 269,816, Age = 50 + y individuals, ≤15y follow-up, 2006–2021). Full Cox models found poor CVH (measured with standardized reverse-coded Life's Essential 8 total score, LE8 zrev ), to be associated with increased risks for all-cause dementia (Hazard Ratio (HR) = 1.14, 95 % CI: 1.11–1.18, P < 0.001) and all-cause mortality (HR = 1.31, 95 % CI: 1.29–1.33, P < 0.001). Unlike “Healthy to PD” and “Dementia→Death” transitions, PD→Death (Weibull full model: HR = 1.18, 95 % CI: 1.06–1.31, P = 0.002), Healthy→dementia (HR = 1.15, 95 % CI: 1.12–1.19, P < 0.001), and Healthy→Death (HR = 1.33, 95 % CI: 1.32–1.35, P < 0.001) exhibited a positive relationship with poor CVH. Poor CVH is directly associated with an increased risk of mortality from PD, transition into Dementia, and all-cause mortality without dementia or PD occurrence. Clinicians should aggressively screen for and manage CVH risk measures to reduce the risk of poor cognitive health outcomes. • Cardiovascular health (CVH)'s associations with all-cause dementia, Parkinson's disease (PD), and mortality were examined using Cox Proportional Hazards and multistate parametric models. • Poor CVH is associated with increased risks for all-cause dementia and all-cause mortality. Unlike “Healthy to PD” and “Dementia to Death” transitions, “PD to Death”, “Healthy to dementia”, and “Healthy to Death” exhibited a positive relationship with poor CVH. • Clinicians should aggressively screen for and manage CVH risk measures to reduce cognitive health outcomes.
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Georgescu et al. (2025) conducted a cohort in Cardiovascular health, dementia, Parkinson's disease, and mortality (n=269,816). Poor cardiovascular health (per 1 SD increase in reverse-coded Life's Essential 8 score) vs. Better cardiovascular health was evaluated on All-cause dementia (HR 1.14, 95% CI 1.11-1.18, p=<0.001). Poor cardiovascular health was associated with a 14% increased risk of all-cause dementia and a 31% increased risk of all-cause mortality among UK older adults.
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