Skip to main content

Heart Problems Linked To Brain Shrinkage

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on March 27, 2025.

via HealthDay

THURSDAY, March 27, 2025 -- Heart disease might contribute to the sort of brain shrinkage seen in dementia, a new study says.

People with early signs of heart problems are more likely to have brain changes associated with dementia, researchers reported on March 26 in the journal Neurology.

Specifically, people whose hearts aren’t pumping blood efficiently are more likely to have smaller brain volumes than people with healthy hearts, researchers found.

The study “shows that even mild … dysfunction is associated with adverse brain health,” senior researcher Dr. Frank Wolters, a senior scientist with Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, said in a news release.

“Evaluating people who have heart problems … for problems with memory and thinking skills could help us detect any cognitive decline early and start interventions,” Wolters added.

For the study, researchers pooled data from seven studies in Europe and the U.S. which measured people’s heart function and scanned their brains using MRI. In all, the studies included nearly 11,000 people.

Results showed that people with moderate to severe systolic dysfunction -- where the heart can’t contract normally and pump efficiently -- tended to have smaller total brain volumes than those with healthy hearts.

In addition, people with diastolic dysfunction -- where the heart doesn’t properly relax and fill with blood between heartbeats -- had smaller brain volumes, especially in the hippocampus, the brain region that plays an important role in memory.

Even heart symptoms that don’t amount to full-blown heart failure were linked to smaller brain volumes, researchers said.

Shrinking brain volumes have been linked to mild cognitive impairment and dementia, researchers noted.

“This review shows that better heart health is associated with larger brain volumes, suggesting that the preservation of heart function could help maintain brain health and memory and thinking skills during the aging process,” Wolters said.

However, he added that additional studies are needed to further investigate why heart problems might affect brain health.

Sources

  • American Academy of Neurology, news release, March 26, 2025

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Read this next

The Many Faces of Parkinson’s: Symptoms, Treatment, and How To Manage It

THURSDAY, July 24, 2025 — About 90,000 people are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) each year – one person every six minutes. While most people associate...

Insulin Nasal Spray Reaches Alzheimer's Targets, Brain Scans Show

THURSDAY, July 24, 2025 — Insulin delivered by nasal spray might be a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, a new study says. An insulin nasal spray...

You Might Not Need As Many Daily Steps As You Think, Review Argues

THURSDAY, July 23, 2025 — Walkers don’t need to march 10,000 steps a day to gain substantial health benefits, a comprehensive new evidence review has...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.