High blood pressure and cholesterol are risk factors for Alzheimer's disease

Raised systolic blood pressure and high serum cholesterol concentration, particularly in combination, in midlife increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease in later life. More emphasis should therefore be placed on identifying and treating these risk factors. Kivipelto et al (p 1447) followed 1449 Finnish men and women over an average of 21 years and found that after adjusting for age, body mass index, education, vascular events, smoking status and alcohol consumption, the odds ratio for developing Alzheimer's in later life was 2.3 for raised systolic blood pressure and 2.1 for raised cholesterol. A combination of these factors gave an odds ratio of 3.5. Raised diastolic blood pressure had no significant effect.

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Midlife vascular risk factors and Alzheimer's disease in later life: longitudinal, population based study

Miia Kivipelto, Eeva-Liisa Helkala, Mikko P Laakso, Tuomo Hänninen, Merja Hallikainen, Kari Alhainen, Hilkka Soininen, Jaakko Tuomilehto, and Aulikki Nissinen
BMJ 2001 322: 1447-1451. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]