Tag : Abnormal

Washington: According to new research, structural or functional abnormalities in the heart's left atrium, with or without symptoms, may increase a person's risk of acquiring dementia later in life by 35%. The research was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association. Dementia risk increased even among those who did not experience atrial fibrillation or stroke, two conditions known to be associated with dementia. The left atrium is one of four chambers of the heart and is responsible for receiving blood from the lungs and pumping it into the left ventricle, which then pumps the blood to the rest of the body. An abnormality in the structure or functioning of the left atrium, known as atrial cardiopathy, can often serve as a biomarker, or predictor, of a person's cardiac risk. Atrial cardiopathy is associated with an increased risk of stroke and atrial fibrillation, which are both linked to an enhanced risk of dementia. In a study led by Michelle C. Johansen, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of neurology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, the research team aimed to determine the relationship between atrial cardiopathy and dementia, and if so, whether it is independent of atrial fibrillation and stroke. The study results highlight the need to get a better understanding of the relationship and mechanisms between a state of atrial dysfunction, that may be subclinical (not presenting symptoms) and the newly uncovered association with dementia, the researchers noted. Participants in the current analysis were part of a larger study group of more than 15,000 people originally recruited for the ongoing Atherosclerosis Risk i ...