Kapex Keto However, Alzheimer's is not the only cause: the main vascular risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, overweight and obesity, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, etc.) affect the whole body, and in particular the brain. Thus, 30% of those who have a stroke will subsequently have a cognitive deficit, shows the stroke register created thirty-five years ago by the Dijon University Hospital. "But this is also true in subjects who have a minor brain accident, which goes unnoticed because without any symptoms, and whose traces will be discovered later on a brain MRI", explains Prof. Didier Leys, neurologist at CHU Lille . Ditto for patients suffering from a myocardial infarction , or suffering from atrial fibrillation, orarteritis of the legs . “Even without a proven disease, these risk factors predispose to cognitive decline. People aged 65-70 with just hypertension without any pathology are predisposed to develop a major cognitive disorder fifteen years later.
Kapex Keto Their vascular origin can be spotted by neuropsychological tests which identify the cognitive functions affected. While it is above all memory that is affected in Alzheimer's disease, cognitive deficits of vascular origin tend to result in executive function disorders: difficulties in attention, in decision-making, in the sequence of tasks, in complex reasoning ...
Kapex Keto High blood pressure plays a major role in these cognitive disorders. Long before any manifestation of hypertension, the brain can be the site of small "silent" vascular lesions whose appearance seems progressive: first microlesions of the white matter, small cerebral infarctions, micro-bleeding at a more advanced stage ... Their accumulation promotes accelerated aging of the brain. They can also cause cerebral atrophies of the frontotemporal cortex, seat of cognitive functions, which only works well if it is properly stimulated by the "wiring" of white matter. "This suggests a certain continuum: the early lesions of the white matter, by accumulating, gradually lead to a loss of connectivity with the cortex, which atrophies", explains Pr Leys. For Prof. Régis Bordet, neurologist and pharmacologist at Lille University Hospital, the effect of hypertension on the vessels is probably not only mechanical. "It is accompanied by a state of vascular inflammation, a dysfunction of the endothelium lining the vessels which would reduce their reactivity and influence the vascular flow."
Kapex Keto Another risk factor is diabetes . A diabetic is at greater risk of cognitive decline because the overall deleterious effect of the disease on the entire microcirculation also promotes vascular micro-lesions in the brain. "In the recent evaluation of a cohort of 200 diabetic patients, we found in a third of these alterations rather dysexécutives or dysattentionnelles evoking cognitive disorders of vascular origin," the P r Bordet. The difficulties in balancing diabetes could be partly due to these cognitive problems, the identification of which would make it possible to better follow these patients. Diabetes also has another effect: insulin modulates a chemical reaction linked to the protein tau, a major component of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease.. Insulin resistance therefore also increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Kapex Keto For Prof. Maurice Giroud, neurologist at Dijon University Hospital, “ sleep apnea should also be detected and treated early : repeated, chronic nocturnal hypoxias are the cause of severe hypertension, of diabetes more resistant to treatment. , obesity…
Kapex Keto Since the majority of cognitive deficits after the age of 60 combine Alzheimer's disease and vascular disorders, for lack of effective treatment against the former, preventing the latter is the only way to reduce cognitive risk. "But we must act early: the follow-up by brain MRI of patients over 65 shows that the number of these lesions hardly changes any more, as if the" lesion load "had been built up a long time before", explains P r Christophe Tzourio, neuro-epidemiologist at Bordeaux University Hospital. It is therefore as soon as hypertension, diabetes or obesity appears that they must be treated to protect one's cognitive capital.