- Home
- Medical news & Guidelines
- Anesthesiology
- Cardiology and CTVS
- Critical Care
- Dentistry
- Dermatology
- Diabetes and Endocrinology
- ENT
- Gastroenterology
- Medicine
- Nephrology
- Neurology
- Obstretics-Gynaecology
- Oncology
- Ophthalmology
- Orthopaedics
- Pediatrics-Neonatology
- Psychiatry
- Pulmonology
- Radiology
- Surgery
- Urology
- Laboratory Medicine
- Diet
- Nursing
- Paramedical
- Physiotherapy
- Health news
- Fact Check
- Bone Health Fact Check
- Brain Health Fact Check
- Cancer Related Fact Check
- Child Care Fact Check
- Dental and oral health fact check
- Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
- Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
- Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
- Fitness fact check
- Gut health fact check
- Heart health fact check
- Kidney health fact check
- Medical education fact check
- Men's health fact check
- Respiratory fact check
- Skin and hair care fact check
- Vaccine and Immunization fact check
- Women's health fact check
- AYUSH
- State News
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Andhra Pradesh
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Assam
- Bihar
- Chandigarh
- Chattisgarh
- Dadra and Nagar Haveli
- Daman and Diu
- Delhi
- Goa
- Gujarat
- Haryana
- Himachal Pradesh
- Jammu & Kashmir
- Jharkhand
- Karnataka
- Kerala
- Ladakh
- Lakshadweep
- Madhya Pradesh
- Maharashtra
- Manipur
- Meghalaya
- Mizoram
- Nagaland
- Odisha
- Puducherry
- Punjab
- Rajasthan
- Sikkim
- Tamil Nadu
- Telangana
- Tripura
- Uttar Pradesh
- Uttrakhand
- West Bengal
- Medical Education
- Industry
Abnormally high levels of 'good cholesterol' associated with dementia risk
Researchers at Monash University have found in a new study that abnormally high levels of HDL-Cholesterol are associated with an increased risk of dementia in older adults .
Researchers said very high levels of HDL-C linked to dementia risk in this study were uncommon and not diet related, but more likely to reflect a metabolic disorder.
The findings may help doctors to recognise a group of older patients potentially at risk of dementia, particularly in those aged 75 and older.
Published in The Lancet Regional Health-Western Pacific, this is one of the largest studies of elevated HDL-C levels and dementia in initially healthy older people aged mostly over 70, enrolled in the ASPREE* study.
Over an average 6.3 years, participants with very high HDL-C (>80 mg/dL or >2.07 mmol/L) at study entry were observed to have a 27 per cent higher risk of dementia compared to participants with optimal HDL-C levels, while those aged 75 years and older also showed a 42 per cent increased risk compared to those with optimal levels.
Very high HDL-C levels were categorised as 80 mg/dL (>2.07 mmol/L) or above.
The optimal level of HDL-C of 40 to 60 mg/dL (1.03-1.55 mmol/L) for men and 50 to 60 mg/dL (1.55-2.07 mmol/L) for women was generally beneficial for heart health.
Among 18,668 participants included in this analysis, 2709 had very high HDL-C at study entry, with 38 incidents of dementia in those aged less than 75 years with very high levels, and 101 in those aged 75 and more with very high levels.
First author and Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine senior research fellow Dr Monira Hussain said that further research was needed to explain why a very high HDL cholesterol level appeared to affect the risk of dementia.
Dr Hussain said these study findings could help improve our understanding of the mechanisms behind dementia, but more research was required.
"While we know HDL cholesterol is important for cardiovascular health, this study suggests that we need further research to understand the role of very high HDL cholesterol in the context of brain health," she said.
"It may be beneficial to consider very high HDL cholesterol levels in prediction algorithms for dementia risk."
*The Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial is a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial of daily aspirin in healthy older people.
Reference:
Sultana Monira Hussain, Catherine Robb, Andrew M. Tonkin, Paul Lacaze, Trevor T.-J. Chong, Lawrence J. Beilin, Chenglong Yu, Gerald F. Watts, Joanne Ryan, Michael E. Ernst, Zhen Zhou, Johannes T. Neumann, John J. McNeil. Association of plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level with risk of incident dementia: a cohort study of healthy older adults. The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific, 2023; 100963 DOI: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2023.100963.
Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751