Heart disease, strokes and diabetes contribute to many dementia cases in the United States, but the risk is not equal everywhere, a new study says.
Overall, more than a third (37%) of U.S. dementia cases are linked to eight conditions: diabetes, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, researchers found.
The South has the strongest link between these diseases and dementia, researchers reported recently in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
“A substantial number of dementia cases could be eliminated by mitigating modifiable cardiometabolic risk factors, especially in U.S. counties with a high risk of dementia attributed to these risk factors,” senior researcher Dr. Brad Racette said in a news release. He’s chair of neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.
For the study, researchers analyzed claims data from Medicare covering nearly 21 million Americans 67 and older, including more than 756,000 dementia cases.
Dementia cases were most strongly associated with stroke, with a 2.2-times higher risk, followed by heart failure (2.1 times increased risk) and high blood pressure (78% increased risk), results show.
The link between high cholesterol and dementia was the weakest, with a 27% increased risk, researchers found.
“Realistically, a 15% proportional reduction in these [eight] risk factors would reduce incident dementia cases in the population by an estimated 6.3 %,” Racette estimates.
Looking at county-level data, researchers found that people in the South were at greater risk for dementia caused in part by heart problems, stroke or diabetes.
“Regional variation in dementia burden can be explained partially by the disproportionate concentration of obesity, lack of physical activity, and unhealthy diet among those living in Southern states,” Racette said.
By comparison, these diseases contributed far less to dementia risk in the Pacific Northwest, Great Plains or Rocky Mountains than in the rest of the U.S., researchers found.
More information
Johns Hopkins Medicine has more on dementia and heart health.
SOURCE: Barrow Neurological Institute, news release, May 23, 2025
Source: HealthDay
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