Chronic Stress and Alzheimer’s Disease may have a link, as per study.

Source: : Karolinska Institute

Summary: Chronic stress, and Alzheimer’s disease may have a link. According to the study, those between the ages of 18 and 65 who had previously been diagnosed with chronic stress were more likely than others to receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment.

In Sweden, 160,000 people suffer from dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease being common. This number is increasing as people live longer. The need to uncover additional disease risk factors highlighted by the recent development of several novel early-intervention medications.

Prior research has indicated a potential correlation between depression, dementia, and long-term chronic stress. A history of depression or prolonged stress increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease development, according to a current study.

According to research, people with prolonged stress were more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than people without it. In patients with both conditions, the risk was as high as four times.

There was an equivalent increase in the chance of cognitive impairment. Chronic stress is defined as stress experienced by a patient for more than six months without an opportunity for recovery.

“The risk is still very low and the causality is unknown,” Axel C. Carlsson, a docent at the Karolinska Institute’s Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, the study’s final author. “That said, the finding is important in that it enables us to improve preventative efforts and understand links with the other risk factors for dementia.”

All healthcare contacts who were compensated by Region Stockholm were included in the administrative healthcare database used for the study. Patients between 2012 and 2013 who were between the ages of 18 and 65 were the focus of the study.

They found 44,447 individuals who had been diagnosed with depression and/or chronic stress, and they tracked them for eight years to see how many of them developed mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease later on.

More people with Alzheimer’s disease than all other 1,362,548 people in the same age had been diagnosed with depression.

“It’s very uncommon for people in this age group to develop dementia, so we need to identify all possible risk factors for the disease,” says Dr Carlsson. “We show here that the diagnosis is more common in people who have suffered chronic stress or depression, but more studies will be required if we’re to demonstrate any causality there.”

Today, the researchers will continue their study, creating questionnaires and cognitive tests to identify people at early risk of dementia.

The Academic Primary Care Center (APC) and Region Stockholm provided funding for this study.