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SAN ANTONIO , Texas — Being widowed and never remarry may raise the risk of dementia and Alzheimer ’s disease , according to a unexampled study of genealogical data .
The enquiry , presented Saturday ( March 19 ) at the yearly meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry , found that widowhood nearly doubled the risk of dementia in Utah citizens born between 1895 and 1930 . The endangerment of Alzheimer ’s disease , the most common conformation of dementedness , was 2.17 time higher in citizenry who had been widowed and never remarried .
The results are preliminary and many motion remain about howother life stressors fiddle a rolein dementia , subject investigator Maria Norton , a prof of family , consumer and health development at Utah State University , state LiveScience . But inquiry on animal suggests that accumulated focus over the life-time may accelerate cellular phone expiry in the hippocampus , one of the head ’s storage centre . That might make the brain more vulnerable to the effects of Alzheimer ’s disease , Norton said .
The Alzheimer ’s Association estimates that 5.4 million Americans presently have Alzheimer ’s disease , which is the sixth - leading causal agency of death in the United States . The disease is score bymemory loss , disorientation and behavior changes . No one knows why Alzheimer ’s develops , but abnormal protein deposits called plaques and tangles seem to play a function in killing brain cells . [ 10 way of life to Keep Your brain Sharp ]
Norton and her fellow received a three - year grant from the National Institutes of Health to research how life experience might play a role in the ontogenesis of Alzheimer ’s and other dementedness . As part of the project , the researchers twist to the Utah Population Database , a elaborate genealogic book of parentage , marriages and death in Utah .
They pulled biographic information from the great unwashed born in the late 1800s and early 1900s and divided the subjects into an raiment of category reflect complicated relationship histories : married and stayed marry , married anddivorced without remarrying , married and widow without remarrying . They also look at people with multiple marriages , dividing them into categories based on whether any of those marriages had ended in widowhood or if they ’d finish in divorce .
After controlling for geezerhood , gender , teaching and presence of the APOE e4 gene variant , which is know tocontribute to Alzheimer ’s , the researcher found that multiple marital change , peculiarly widowhood , put citizenry at elevated risk of infection of developing dementia after . The high risk for dementia was among those who had married once , become widowed and never remarry . The least potential people to get dementia were those who remain hook up with and were not widowed , and those who got married , got disunite and stayed single .
A single divorce probably does n’t increase dementia risk because the marriage itself was likely stressful and make out was a relief , Norton say . On the other hired hand , widowhood can cause major sprightliness strain .
For the surviving spouse , " this was something that was n’t a conscious choice , " Norton said .
The researchers are now polish their written report to look at the timing of lifetime stresses . Whether you ’re widow at age 25 versus 75 might make a difference in late risk , Norton said . So might other factors like depression or the decease of a child . ( slump hasalready been implicatedas a risk cistron for Alzheimer ’s . ) The estimate , Norton said , is to visualise out which stressors put people at the most risk so doc can develop treatments and political program to allay the anxiousness early on , before dementia hits .
you may followLiveSciencesenior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter@sipappas .
