July 1, 2026
Heart health is closely tied to brain health, a growing body of research shows. A new study helps pinpoint which specific aspects of cardiovascular health are most closely associated with an increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
For the study, researchers at Michigan Technological University looked at nearly 800,000 men and women who were part of two large and ongoing studies of health and aging: The UK Biobank in Britain, and the All of Us Research Program in the United States. Participants were tracked over many years, including whether they had been diagnosed with any of 10 conditions affecting heart and vascular health, including high and low blood pressure, heart rhythm abnormalities, a history of heart attack or stroke, heart failure, pulmonary embolism, rheumatic heart disease, the presence of chest pain (angina), and chronic ischemic heart disease. The researchers also considered other medical conditions and lifestyle factors that can affect Alzheimer’s risk, such as diabetes, obesity, how much exercise they got, and smoking.
“By examining different types of heart disease individually, we identified which adults with heart disease might have the highest risk for cognitive decline,” said Aili Toyli, the study’s lead author. “This highlights the importance of optimal cardiovascular health to possibly prevent Alzheimer’s disease.”
Low blood pressure, or hypotension, had the strongest link to Alzheimer’s risk. Adults with low blood pressure over many years were two to three times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than their peers with normal blood pressure. Participants with high blood pressure, or hypertension, were 1.6 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s.
“We’ve known for a long time that high blood pressure can have damaging long-term effects on the brain,” said Dr. Elisabeth Marsh, a professor of neurology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the current study. “This study shows us that blood pressure can also become a problem when it is too low for long periods of time.”
“The brain needs blood to get the oxygen and nutrients it needs to function properly,” Dr. Marsh continued. “While science is beginning to understand the mechanisms that lead to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline as people age, it’s not surprising that low blood pressure leads to dysfunction in the brain because the brain is not getting what it needs.”
Additional cardiovascular factors also had an outsize impact on Alzheimer’s risk. Participants who had a previous stroke were up to 1.85 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than those with no history of stroke. Those with the irregular heart rhythms known as atrial fibrillation, or AFib, were about 1.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Heart failure, angina and chronic ischemic heart disease had a lower impact on Alzheimer’s risk.
Having had a heart attack, on the other hand, was not significantly linked to an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Many participants had more than one cardiovascular condition, however, making it difficult to measure the possible impact of each one separately. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
The results underscore the importance of maintaining optimal heart health throughout life to help maintain the health of the brain. The American Heart Association has identified eight cardiovascular health factors that are especially important for maintaining brain health as we age. These factors, called Life’s Essential 8, are being active; eating a heart-healthy diet; maintaining a healthy weight; not smoking; maintaining a healthy blood pressure; getting enough sleep; and controlling cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Taking steps to address these measures can not only help to prevent heart attacks and strokes; they may also help to curb declines in memory and thinking skills and possibly help lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in old age.
By ALZinfo.org, The Alzheimer’s Information Site. Reviewed by Eric Schmidt, PhD, of The Fisher Center lab at The Rockefeller University.
Source: Aili Toyli; Chen Zhao, PhD; Kuan-Jui Su, PhD; et al: “Cardiovascular Disease Subtypes and Alzheimer’s Disease: Phenotypic and Genetic Associations in the UK Biobank and All of Us Research Program.” Journal of the American Heart Association, June 10, 2026
