It is associated with an increased rate of progression of dementia and can lead from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists at the Medical University of South Carolina in the USA argue after conducting a study that anxiety is directly related to a decrease in cognitive functions, memory and thinking impairment.
The study involved about 400 patients aged about 70 years. They were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. Later it became known, writes Mirror, that 72 people developed Alzheimer’s disease.
Doctors concluded that patients with anxiety, as well as people with mild cognitive impairment, developed Alzheimer’s disease much faster than those who did not suffer from anxiety.
This was observed regardless of whether the subjects had a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s and brain volume loss, notes Jenny Ulber, study author.