Scientists fears increase the risk of dementia

Great anxiety can damage our brain
Is there a connection between anxiety and dementia? Do we develop dementia more quickly if we are more often exposed to fears in our everyday lives? A recent study by American researchers claims that high levels of anxiety release a stress hormone. This hormone is able to damage parts of the human brain. The results of the study, scientists now published in the journal "Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association".

The current study by the University Southern Californian (USC) notes that people who often experience great anxiety are one and a half times more likely to develop dementia in their lives. There have been previous studies that found a link between dementia and mental health problems. For the first time, however, a direct link between anxiety and dementia has been investigated.

Fears can increase the risk of dementia. Image: Alexander Raths - fotolia

Anxiety can quickly become a chronic life-long disease
In the past, anxiety has been relatively underdeveloped compared to depression, especially among the elderly. Depression seems to occur much more often in adulthood, but as a rule, such symptoms occur only episodically. In contrast, morbid anxiety is a problem that tends to become a chronic life-long disease, the researchers said in their study. Because of this, many people would also tend to view anxiety as part of their personality.

Stress hormone Cortisol damages hippocampus and frontal cortex
For the current study, the results of the older "Swedish Adoption Twin Study of Aging" were used. The data covered an observation period of 28 years and the studies had involved 1,082 subjects. In the study, twins should complete questionnaires every three years. In addition, the subjects were examined for signs of dementia, explain the physicians. To determine whether fears in everyday life and the risk of dementia correlate, the researchers compared the subjects with great fears with the subjects with low fears. It was found that in subjects with major fears higher concentrations of stress hormones such as cortisol occurred. Cortisol can damage parts of the brain such as the hippocampus and the frontal cortex, said lead author Andrew Petkus. The American scientists also found that a fear-dementia relationship is more pronounced in dizygotic twins than in identical twins. This finding could mean that perhaps the genetic factors of anxiety and dementia are shared.

Depression without influence on the connection between anxiety and dementia
Subjects who later developed dementia were people who suffered a lot of anxiety in their lives, co-author Professor Margaret Gatz suspected. Previous studies have already explored the association between dementia and psychological variables such as depression and neuroticism. However, the current study found that the association between anxiety and dementia is independent of the risk factor of depression. Patients who had been treated for anxiety over the course of their lives had a lower risk of dementia compared to those who had never sought medical attention.