Linking risk factors to Alzheimer's Disease

The Framingham risk score was developed and has been used for years to measure cardiovascular risk factors. It factors in age, lifestyle, and health conditions like hypertension or high cholesterol levels to determine whether a patient is at risk for a cardiovascular event, such as a stroke, heart attack or myocardial infarction. 

The article suggests that two Framingham risk scores are a strong assessment for dementia and cognitive decline. The study, which was published in the Journal of Neurology, compared different elements of the Framingham score system and found that stroke score was strongly associated with 10 year cognitive decline.  If doctors start to use Framingham to identify a cognitive decline score in patients, they may be able to help patients modify lifestyle to eliminate certain risk factors of dementia. 

I think this link will be extremely beneficial to physicians and ultimately their patients.  Since doctors typically utilize the Framingham in a younger patient population when evaluating a patient's cardiovascular health, if they start to recognize deterioration in cognition in these patients and let their patients know that their brain may be at risk too, we are one step closer to closing the gap on dementia and Alzheimer's disease.



To read more about this study, please see link below.
Framingham Risk for Alzheimer's Assessment?