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Why Heart Failure Can Lead To Cognitive Decline, According To Research

Author:

Sarah Regan

December 16, 2024

mbg Spirituality & Relationships Editor

By Sarah Regan

mbg Spirituality & Relationships Editor

Sarah Regan is a Spirituality & Relationships Editor, and a registered yoga instructor. She received her bachelor's in broadcasting and mass communication from SUNY Oswego, and lives in Buffalo, New York.

Frustrated black woman looking into distance and holding her hair

Image by Sergey Filimonov / Stocksy

December 16, 2024

When a person experiences heart failure, it's not uncommon for them to then experience an uptick in cognitive decline. Until now, we haven't fully understood why that happens, but according to research published in the journal Nature Neuroscience1, we may have just found the answer. Here's what to know.

The connection between heart and brain health

For this study, researchers wanted to dig into why so many heart failure patients also experience cognitive decline. As the study's lead author Andrew R. Marks, M.D., explains in a news release, the connection was thought of as a "coincidence," and only recently has research suggested it's heart failure itself causing the cognitive problems.

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The team wanted to study calcium leaks more closely, namely because the calcium leaks that can contribute to heart failure can also happen in the brain. Specifically, calcium moves through the heart in a channel that isn't able to close properly during heart failure. This results in calcium leaking through the channel, meaning that calcium isn't helping the heart the way it should be.

Knowing this, researchers wanted to observe calcium leaks in the brain to study their impact.

In a mouse model of heart failure, they saw that calcium leaks in the brain's neurons did, indeed, lead to cognitive impairment. Similarly, in the brains of people who had died from heart failure, the team saw those same leaky calcium channels.

And while more research needs to be done to better understand this connection between heart failure, cognition, and calcium leaks, the team highlights two possible explanations: One, that calcium leaks activate enzymes that prompt a reaction seen in people with Alzheimer's, and two, that calcium leaks cause abnormalities in brain neurons.

The good news, the team is now working on a drug to "plug" these calcium leaks, not just in the heart but in the brain as well. It's still going through clinical trials, but the researchers hope it will offer a novel solution to the problem of leaking calcium.

What to do about it

While the prospect of a drug for plugging calcium leaks is certainly a glimmer of hope on both the brain and heart front, it might take a while for it to become available to everyday patients.

To that end, if you want to protect your cognition as you age, staying on top of your heart health can go a long way. And much of that looks like healthy lifestyle rules of thumb, like working out regularly, managing your cholesterol and blood pressure, and eating a balanced diet full of vitamins and minerals.

The takeaway

These new findings not only offer an explanation for why heart failure patients experience cognitive decline but further highlight the importance of a well-rounded approach to your well-being. Namely, if you want to keep your cognition sharp as you age, keeping your heart healthy is an important factor to consider.