Brain Care Score for Dementia, Stroke Can Also Predict Late-Life Depression

Scoring here:

I score 16.  I have never been depressed a day in my life and I see nothing in my future that will cause depression. Who can tell me if this score is enough  brain reserve to prevent dementia, since I'm sure I used up most of my brain reserve just surviving my stroke? WHY DOESN'T ANYONE IN STROKE KNOW ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT 100% STROKE RECOVERY?

Brain Care Score for Dementia, Stroke Can Also Predict Late-Life Depression

A Brain Care Score (BCS), developed by researchers to help identify lifestyle changes that may reduce risk of dementia and stroke, may also help predict late-life depression.

A study, published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, revealed that a higher BCS score was associated with a lower risk of late-life depression, providing further evidence of shared

biological risk factors for stroke, dementia, and depression.

“This paper provides compelling evidence that raising your BCS is not only likely to make your brain healthier and more resistant to diseases like dementia and stroke, but that it also offers the hope of protection from depression,” said Jonathan Rosand, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

“Dementia, stroke, and depression are leading causes of human suffering as we age,” added Christopher Anderson, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital. “This study highlights an extraordinary opportunity to prevent these conditions from developing in the first place.”

The Brain Care Score was developed to help patients and clinicians prevent the onset of brain disease by focusing on modifiable risk factors. These include 4 physical risk factors (blood pressure, haemoglobin A1C, cholesterol, and body mass index), 5 lifestyle elements (nutrition, alcohol intake, smoking, physical activity, and sleep) and 3 social/emotional elements (stress, relationships, and life purpose). A higher score on the 21-point scale is indicative of a lower risk of brain disease.

For the current study, Sanjula Singh, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues utilised data from 363,323 participants with a median baseline BCS of 12. During a median follow-up of 13 years, there were 6,628 incident cases of late-life depression.

The researchers found that each 5-point increase in baseline BCS was associated with a 33% lower risk of incident late-life depression (95% confidence interval [CI], 29%-36%) and a 27% lower risk of a brain health composite outcome comprising stroke, dementia, and late-life depression (95% CI, 24%-30%).

These findings were verified in a separate dataset of nearly 200,000 individuals from the UK Biobank, whose primary care records were also accessible to the researchers.

When stratifying results by age, there was a substantial association between baseline BCS and risk of depression in participants aged <50 years. While the researchers expected that older individuals may experience neurodegenerative and inflammatory processes that can contribute to late-life depression, stroke, and dementia, the neurobiological changes that lead to depression in younger individuals are less apparent. Going forward, they are pursuing additional work to understand the relationship between BCS scores and risk of depression in younger individuals.

“There is still much to be learned about what pathways contribute to late-life depression, dementia, and stroke,” said Dr. Singh. “Our results emphasise the importance of a holistic view of the brain to further understand underlying connections between different brain diseases.”

Next, the researchers will conduct research to determine whether individuals who increase their BCS by ≥5 points have a reduced risk of stroke and dementia in the future, compared with those without substantial score increases.

“Increasingly, data suggest that the risk for a variety of non-communicable diseases is to some extent mediated by modifiable lifestyle changes, should they be undertaken early enough,” concluded Gregory Fricchione, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital. “This research is provocative and hopeful in its implications for tackling prevalent illnesses like depression, which itself is a risk factor for many other diseases. This research reminds us of the interlocking of the nervous system with psychosocial and immunological stress, along with the opportunity to reduce vulnerabilities to downstream damage to the brain through improvements in the factors outlined in the BCS.”

Reference: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1373797/full

SOURCE: Mass General Brigham