HealthDay News — Seventeen modifiable risk factors are shared by stroke, dementia, and late-life depression, according to a review published online in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

Jasper Senff, MD, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to identify overlapping risk factors for stroke, dementia, and late-life depression and calculate their relative impact on a composite outcome.

Using data from 59 selected meta-analyses, the researchers identified the most likely risk factors for stroke, dementia, and late-life depression, using disability-adjusted life year (DALY)-weighted normalized β-coefficients (where positive values suggest increased risk and negative values suggest protective effects).

These are associated with increased risk:

  • Blood pressure (130) – strongest positive risk factor(Controlled by medicine)

  • Kidney function impairment (101)(None)

  • Smoking (91)(None)

  • Fasting plasma glucose (94)(Unknown)

  • Body mass index (BMI) (70)(Not worried about this, it's going down, no thanks to my stroke doctors)

  • Sleep issues (76)(None)

  • Hearing loss (60)

  • Depressive symptoms (57)(None)

  • Stress (55)(None)

  • Social engagement (low) (53)(Mine is very high)

  • Diet (poor) (51)(OK)

  • Pain (42)(None)

  • Total cholesterol (22)(Controlled by medicine)

These are associated with reduced risk (negative β-coefficients):

  • Leisure time cognitive activity (−91) – strongest protective factor(Writing this blog)

  • Physical activity (−56)(Walking 2-3 hours 3-4 times a week)

  • Purpose in life (−50)(Getting our fucking failures of stroke medical 'professionals' to solve stroke to 100% recovery!)

  • Alcohol (−34)(Used to massively increase my social connections! That's not going to change.)

“Dementia, stroke, and late-life depression are connected and intertwined, so if you develop one of them, there’s a substantial chance you may develop another one in the future,” Dr Senff said in a statement. “And because they share these overlapping risk factors, preventive efforts could lead to a reduction in the incidence of more than one of these diseases, which provides an opportunity to simultaneously reduce the burden of age-related brain diseases.”

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology industries.

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