Thyroid problems linked to increased risk of dementia

The study was published in the July 6, 2022, online issue of the American Academy of Neurology. The risk of developing dementia was higher for people who needed to take hormones.

Hypothyroidism can be caused by the lack of enoughthyroid hormones in the body. Slow metabolism can be caused by this. Weight gain and sensitivity to cold are symptoms.

Chien-Hsiang Weng, MD, MPH, of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, is the study author. More studies are needed to confirm the findings, but people should be aware of the possible risk of dementia and the therapies that could prevent or slow it.

Researchers looked at the health records of 7,843 people newly diagnosed with dementia in Taiwan and compared them to the same number of people who didn't have dementia. The average age was 75. People were looked at to see if they had a history of the diseases. When the thyroid produces too much hormones, it's called hyperthyroidism. This can increase the amount of calories burned. Unintended weight loss, irregular heartbeat, and nervousness are some of the symptoms.

There were 133 people who had hyperthyroidism.

There was no correlation between hyperthyroidism and dementia.

The people with dementia had a higher incidence of hypothyroidism than the people without dementia. When researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect the risk of dementia, such as sex, age, high blood pressure and diabetes, they found that people over age 65 were 80% more likely to develop dementia. It was not associated with an increased risk of dementia for people under the age of 65.

People who took medication for hypothyroidism were three times more likely to develop dementia than people who didn't. Weng said that one explanation could be that these people are more likely to experience symptoms from the disease.

The observational study shows an association, but it doesn't prove that there's a cause of dementia.

Researchers were unable to include information about the severity of the hypothyroidism in the study.

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The materials come from the American Academy of Neurology. The content can be edited for style and length.