More and more interesting news pops up each day about benefits of treating atrial fibrillation. Did anyone ever think treating your heart would also treat Alzheimer's disease? As it turns out, if your doctor treats your atrial fibrillation in a certain way, it could help prevent Alzheimer's and other related dementia diseases. Recent research has shown that someone with AF (when upper chambers cause blood to pool and increase potential of blood clots, stroke, heart failure and death) are almost twice as likely (44%) to develop Alzheimer's. This risk is especially relative to younger patients (less than 70 years of age) claims Dr. John D. Day, a heart rhythm specialist at the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City, UT.
In the study, Day and his team compared the likelihood of those that received catheter ablations for their atrial fibrillation versus those that treated their AF with medications. Although the percentages are small in both, anything that could decrease one's likeliness to develop Alzheimer's would surely be accepted. And a small percentage of a very large population can make a big difference in a lot of people's lives. In the results, about 0.2% of patients that underwent catheter ablation developed Alzheimer's versus 0.9% that treated their AF with medications only. Approximately 0.4% treated with catheter ablation developed dementia compared to 1.9% if the AF was treated with medications.
In addition, the risk of dying (6% versus 23.5%), the risk of stroke (2.2% versus 4.7%), the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's diseases were all reduced in patients that received catheter ablation compared to those on medications.
Now, is this due to the side effects of medications or the catheter ablation procedure itself? Surely the catheter ablation wouldn't make AF go away completely and thee patients are on some kind of medication to keep it from occurring again?! Maybe the combination of the catheter and the medications made them less likely to develop Alzheimer's or dementia?
I do find it very interesting that there is a definite link of Alzheimer's with atrial fibrillation considering their extremely different modes of action. Alzheimer's affects the brain; atrial fibrillation, the heart. Alzheimer's is often due to a malformation in protein folding, reduced synthesis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine or myelin breakdown in the brain; atrial fibrillation can be cause by hypertension, other primary heart diseases, lung diseases, excessive alcohol consumption, hyperthyroidism, etc. Alzheimer's gets progressively worse mentally; atrial fibrillation is not as aggressive or obvious. Alzheimer's is concerned with memory and thus, the cerebral cortex (front) of the brain; the heart is controlled by the medulla oblongata (back) of the brain. So what is the connection between the two main organs in the human body? Is it in the pons (the relay station linking the cerebral cortex and the medulla oblongata)? Is it a neurotransmitter common between the two, like acetylcholine? Is it a specific nerve, like the vagus nerve? Is it inherited? There are still multiple avenues to research, but hopefully with research like Dr. Day's, someone can find the vital link between atrial fibrillation and Alzheimer's soon and prevent thousands of cases of dementia.
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