Need another jolt of motivation to shore up a resolution to shed weight, sleep more soundly, boost nutrition or exercise levels, or cut back on alcohol? Then you’ll be pleased to learn that any (and all) of these efforts can also add up to better brain health.
An international study led by researchers at the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital devised and validated a Brain Care Score (BCS) card that makes it easy to total up what you’re doing well and where you might do better. The prize is a healthier brain — specifically a lower risk for dementia and strokes.
Designed to predict how current habits might impact future brain health, the user-friendly scorecard is apparently the first of its kind, says Dr. Andrew Budson, a lecturer in neurology at Harvard Medical School.
“It’s a real service that the researchers have developed a scale like this and completed the first study to determine if scoring worse on this scale raises your risk for dementia and stroke,” says Dr. Budson, who wasn’t involved in the analysis. “On one hand, no one’s done something quite like this before. On the other, however, it’s really wrapping together health factors everyone has known for a number of years in new packaging.”
What’s included on the scorecard?
Called the McCance Brain Care Score, the card tallies points from 12 physical, lifestyle, and social-emotional domains.
Physical components relate to
- blood pressure
- blood sugar
- cholesterol
- body mass index (BMI).
Lifestyle components include
- nutrition
- alcohol intake
- smoking
- aerobic activities
- sleep.
Social-emotional factors inquire about
- stress management
- social relationships
- meaning in life.
Each response is given a score of 0, 1, or 2, with the highest possible score totaling 21. Higher scores suggest better brain care.
“All these physical and lifestyle factors can contribute to the risk of dementia to some extent through strokes,” Dr. Budson says. “Those that aren’t a risk through strokes are usually related to the fact that a healthy brain is a brain that’s using all of its parts. Engaging in healthy relationships and meaningful activities helps us maintain good brain structure and function.”
What did the analysis involve?
The study was published online in Frontiers of Neurology in December 2023. It involved nearly 399,000 adults ages 40 through 69 (average age 57; 54% women) who contributed personal health information to the UK Biobank.
During an average follow-up period of 12.5 years, participants recorded 5,354 new cases of dementia and 7,259 strokes. Researchers found that participants with higher Brain Care Scores at the study’s start had lower risks of developing dementia or strokes over time.
These threats to health and independence take a stunning — and growing — toll on people in the US. Dementia affects one in seven Americans, a rate expected to triple by 2050. Meanwhile, more than 795,000 people in the United States suffer a stroke each year, according to the CDC.
What did the study find?
Each five-point step higher in the BCS rating assigned when the study began was linked to significantly lower risks of dementia and stroke, with those odds varying by age group:
- Participants younger than 50 at the study’s start were 59% less likely to develop dementia and 48% less likely to have a stroke with each five-point higher score on BCS.
- Participants 50 through 59 at the study’s start were 32% less likely to develop dementia and 52% less likely to have a stroke with each five-point higher score on BCS.
But those brain disease benefits appeared to diminish for those older than 59 at the study’s start. This group experienced only 8% lower odds of dementia and a 33% lower risk of stroke with each five-point higher score on BCS. Study authors theorized that some of these participants may have already been experiencing early dementia, which is difficult to detect until it progresses.
