16 Diseases That Can Trigger Dementia Even If the Brain Is Healthy

It may seem that dementia originates in the brain, as the disease causes a person to forget obvious things and behave aggressively. However, scientists have proven that there are pathologies that sometimes initiate a cascade of negative reactions first.

Dementia is a insidious disease for which doctors have not yet found a cure. The more it progresses, the faster a person changes. Although most studies on the causes and mechanisms of dementia have focused on the brain, an increasing amount of data suggests that other factors may also contribute to the development of the disease.

Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University decided to investigate this issue in more detail.

As part of their study, the scientists analyzed the publicly available medical database PubMed, which contained at least 200 relevant works. The experts focused on 26 common diseases that are most often found in men and women of different ages.

It turned out that 16 pathologies can harm not only the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, and other systems, but also destroy the brain. This means that if a person had gone to the doctor in time and started treatment, it is quite possible that they would not have developed dementia, the Chinese scientists are confident.

"On a global scale, these diseases collectively accounted for 33% of dementia cases, corresponding to 18.8 million prevalent cases," the experts say.

Here are the diseases that made the list:

• periodontitis,

• cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases,

• hearing loss,

• vision loss,

• type 2 diabetes,

• chronic kidney disease (CKD),

• osteoarthritis,

• stroke,

• ischemic heart disease,

• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),

• asthma,

• atrial fibrillation and flutter,

• atopic dermatitis,

• rheumatoid arthritis,

• multiple sclerosis,

• inflammatory bowel diseases.

Important: Scientists have not yet been able to prove the correlation with 100% certainty. That is, if you have diabetes or asthma, it does not necessarily mean that you will inevitably suffer from dementia after some time.

However, experts are certain about one thing: the listed pathologies can become a trigger for neurodegenerative disease. This once again proves that everything in our body is interconnected, so health problems should be addressed in a timely manner, and chronic diseases must be controlled by following all medical recommendations.