Scientists have developed a potent diagnostic tool based on the vascular hypothesis for Alzheimer’s. It outperformed three current techniques and might offer clues to the mechanism behind the disease [1].
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Thank you, that’s a very nice article. The vascular factor of brain blood flow as the basis of NDD dementias has certainly been around for a long time. It has a lot of plausibility. But there are obvious limitations - what about early onset AD and certain genetically driven associations? I find it hard to put it all down to blood flow issues. It’s only part of the story. That said, it can certainly be a factor, especially in vascular dementia, as one ages. I find it interesting when thinking about blood pressure gradually going up with age - perhaps that’s a compensatory mechanism to ensure adequate blood flow to the brain when vasculature has been compromised with age. There’s definitely an association of hypotension with dementia, and a similar bias of hypertension as with hypercholesterolemia prevalence in the very old, whereas both are detrimental in middle age.
It may be that the same visible effect has various underlying causes. Perhaps blood flow is one type of dementia & others have other causes. This test might be able to detect the blood flow type, if so, which would be useful.
I looked up HBOT & dementia – there is some thought that HBOT might mitigate dementia. From google:
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is being explored as a potential treatment for dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, with some studies showing promising results.
I also wonder if air travel (because low air pressure & sleep disruption) can be a risk factor for dementia, but google doesn’t turn up any studies suggesting this is so.