Mental Impairment and Heart Health

Medical News Today posted an article about a study that links mental impairment to poor heart health. The study from the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society relates the decline in mental ability in old age to a decline in heart health.

The study looked specifically at elderly women and how the heart’s condition affected their mental status. According to study author Dae Hyun Kim, a healthy heart naturally varies its rate and rhythm throughout the day in response to physical and mental demands. “Advancing age and disease can lower the heart’s ability to change its rate and rhythm, which can be associated with changes in mental function,” says Kim.

The mechanism that causes this correlation is not known.  But we know that when the heart is beating ineffectively, altered mental status often follows along.  Be aware of this interaction.  Urge your patients to take their cardiac meds and talk to their doctors about changes in their mentation.

Talk to you again soon!

Jamie

the Podmedic