Monitoring risk indicators such as weight patterns provides opportunities for early intervention

Now, researchers from Boston University’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College have found that different patterns of BMI change over the lifespan can be an indicator of a person’s risk of dementia.

“These findings are important because previous studies that examined weight trajectories did not consider how patterns of weight gain/stability/loss might help signal that dementia is potentially imminent,” the author explained. correspondent Rhoda Au, PhD, professor of anatomy and neurobiology.

Through the Framingham Heart Study, a group of participants was followed for 39 years and their weight was measured approximately every 2 to 4 years. The researchers compared different weight patterns (stable, gain, loss) among those who became demented and those who did not.

They found that the general downward trend in BMI was associated with a higher risk of developing dementia. However, upon further exploration, they found a subgroup with a pattern of an initial increase in BMI followed by a decline in BMI, both occurring during midlife, which appeared to be central decreasing BMI-dementia association.

Au points out that for individuals, family members and primary care physicians, it is relatively easy to monitor weight. “If, after the steady increase in weight that is common as one ages, there is an unexpected shift toward weight loss after midlife, it may be a good idea to see your health care provider and determine Why. There are emerging potential treatments where early detection could be critical in the effectiveness of any of these treatments as they are approved and become available,” she adds.

The researchers hope this study will illustrate that the seeds of dementia risk are sown over many years, possibly even the entire lifespan. “Dementia is not necessarily inevitable and monitoring risk indicators such as something as easily noticed as weight patterns, could provide opportunities for early intervention that can alter the trajectory of onset and progression. disease progression.”

These results appear online in Alzheimer’s and dementia: the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Funding for this study was provided by the Nonprofit Central Research Institute Fund of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2021-JKCS-023), the National Heart, Lung Institute Contract and blood from the Framingham Heart Study (N01-HC-25195), the National Institute on Aging (AG016495, AG008122, AG033040, AG062109, AG049810, AG054156, AG062109, AG068753), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and strokes (R01-NS017950) and VMF-14-318524 ​​from the Alzheimer’s Association and Pfizer.

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Materials provided by Boston University School of Medicine. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.