Dementia, a neurological disorder that becomes progressively worse, affects patients' cognitive functions, emotions and behavior. MedlinePlus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, explained that dementia rarely occurs in people under the age of 60. Multiple types of dementia exist, which include Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia, vascular dementia and frontotemporal dementia.
In the early stages of dementia, patients have a flat mood and a loss of social skills. Memory problems occur during this stage, such as patients have problems remembering names for familiar objects. Dementia patients also have difficulty with activities like balancing a checkbook. As the dementia progresses, the memory problems become worse, in which patients have difficulty forming new memories and recalling stored memories. Patients withdrawal from social contact and have mood changes. Difficulty with language occur in the moderate stage of dementia. In the advanced stage of dementia, patients forget their family members and are not able to care for themselves.
Certain risk factors exist for dementia. The MayoClinic.com noted that age and family history of dementia are risk factors for dementia that a person cannot change. But people can make certain lifestyle changes to avoid other risk factors for dementia. For example, smoking and alcohol use are both risk factors for dementia. Depression is also a risk factor for dementia. Other risk factors include too high or too low blood pressure, atherosclerosis, high homocysteine blood levels, high estrogen levels, high LDL cholesterol and diabetes. A new preliminary study conducted at Boston University School of Medicine noted a link between excess abdomen fat and a risk for dementia.
One method to determine if someone's weight is healthy or not is with a body mass index (BMI). A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, while a BMI of 30 and above is considered obese. MedlinePlus points out that a person with a large muscle mass can have a higher BMI, but is not overweight or obese.
In the study, the authors used medical records from 733 people; 70 percent of those records were from women. HealthDay News reported that the authors found that “increasing levels of body-mass index...in middle-aged people corresponds with lower brain volumes when they are older.” Since this is a preliminary study, more research is needed to solidify obesity as a risk factor for dementia. However, it does provide an interesting connection between dementia and obesity.