A Healthy Heart May Reduce the Onset of Cognitive Decline In Black Women

Black women are one the highest groups susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, according to the National Institute on Aging. But a new study brings promising news for Black Americans. The Journal of the American Heart Association has published a report that better heart health has been linked to less decline in mental processing speed and cognition among middle-aged Black women than those with worse heart health. In the study, conducted by a team at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, researchers compared key heart health metrics such as weight and blood pressure (part of the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8), along with self-reported health behaviors such as eating healthily and being physically active, against cognitive testing in middle-aged Black and white women who were tested every one to two years over a 20-year period. The cognitive tests assessed processing speed—the pace at which the brain accurately recognizes visual and verbal information necessary for daily activities such as driving—and working memory. Black women with good heart health showed little decline in mental processing during the 20-year study. Black women with lower heart health, based on Life’s Essential 8 metrics, had a 10% decrease in processing speed over 20...