There are over six million Americans with heart failure who are at greater risk of losing their cognitive abilities earlier in life, a study suggests.
The research team, led by Michigan Medicine, examined the cognitive abilities of nearly 30,000 adults over time, comparing those who did and did not develop heart failure.
The researchers found heart failure is associated with a significant decrease in cognition at the time of diagnosis.
Global cognition and executive functioning also declined more rapidly over the years after heart failure diagnosis, as people with the condition mentally aged the equivalent of 10 years within just seven years of a heart failure diagnosis.
The results are published in Circulation: Heart Failure.
“Heart failure is a disease that never goes away and treating it…