What Is Cardiogenic Dementia? How Heart Disease Can Affect Your Brain

While dementia is usually thought of as a brain disease, a study released earlier this year showed that heart disease can increase a person’s risk for cognitive problems. Dementia driven by heart disease even has a name: Cardiogenic dementia. Researchers say it’s becoming more widely documented in preclinical and clinical studies.

If left untreated, cardiogenic dementia can negatively affect a person’s quality of life, underscoring the importance of early detection and treatment. Here’s what experts want you to know about how your heart health can affect your brain.

The Link Between Your Brain and Heart

The relationship between heart disease and dementia is complex, but researchers have several theories about why cardiovascular health affects cognitive function.

During the initial stages of heart failure, calcium flow to the heart starts to falter. One study suggests calcium channels become overstimulated and fail to close properly, preventing sufficient calcium from getting to the cells of the heart. Because calcium particles help the heart to function, a lack of calcium can cause or exacerbate heart problems.

Since the brain has similar calcium channels, researchers think it’s possible that calcium leaks could also cause cognitive impairment. That might not be too far-fetched an idea: In the aforementioned study, mice with heart failure experienced calcium leaks that led to cognitive impairment.

How Does Heart Disease Contribute to Dementia?

There are direct and indirect ways that heart disease can cause dementia. One direct example is heart failure.

The brain is an organ that requires sufficient oxygen and energy to function properly. When the heart is compromised by disease, “the heart becomes a less efficient pump, so the brain might not get enough blood, oxygen, and sugar to function normally,” Richard Lipton, MD, vice chair of neurology at Einstein and Montefiore Health System and the director of the Einstein Aging Study (EAS), told Verywell. 

Another way that the brain can become damaged is if the damage is caused by heart disease related to stroke.

“In stroke, brain cells die due to insufficient blood flow,” said Lipton. “Blood clots may form in the heart or in the heart valves. If those clots break off, they can travel to the brain, block blood flow to specific brain regions, leading to death of brain tissue and cognitive problems.” 

Dementia can also be indirectly caused by inflammation in the body, according to Jason Cohen, MD, a neurologist at Montefiore-Einstein Center for the Aging Brain. 

According to Cohen, cardiogenic dementia is bidirectional, meaning brain problems can cause heart issues and vice versa.

Who Is At Risk for Cardiogenic Dementia?

It’s probably not surprising that people with heart failure or congestive heart failure are among the most high-risk groups for cardiogenic dementia. Cohen added that “people who have AFib (atrial fibrillation) have a higher risk of having dementia” as well.

Other at-risk groups include people who smoke, people who use drugs, people with sleep apnea, and people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes.

“If you have high cholesterol, you have a higher chance of having heart problems,” said Cohen. That “bad” cholesterol can build fatty deposits in the arteries, leading to heart disease and restricted blood flow to the brain.

How to Protect Your Brain From Heart Disease

Sometimes, the damage that is done to the brain that leads to cognitive problems is not reversible, so prevention is key. While you can’t really “target” your mind with specific measures, what you can do is take some general health-related steps to protect your heart and your brain.

G. Peter Gliebus, MD, a neurologist and medical director of the cognitive and behavioral neurology program at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, recommends focusing on improving your heart health, which ultimately affects your cognitive function.

“That means controlling your blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, smoking, and body weight will promote healthy heart and brain aging,” said Lipton. 

If you have high blood pressure, cholesterol, or blood sugar levels, taking the medication you’ve been prescribed, and making lifestyle changes are key to getting those levels in check and keeping them within a healthy range.