Is stress related to Alzheimer’s illness? It might be in ladies who’re postmenopausal, a examine led by The College of Texas Well being Science Middle at San Antonio (UT Well being San Antonio) exhibits.
Analyzing information from 305 cognitively unimpaired contributors within the Framingham Coronary heart Research, a long-term and ongoing community-based cohort examine of residents in Framingham, Massachusetts, the scientists found that top ranges of the stress hormone cortisol in midlife are linked to elevated amyloid deposition in postmenopausal individuals later.
Amyloids are proteins which have folded incorrectly, stopping biologic perform, forming deposits in tissues and organs, and are implicated in Alzheimer’s illness. By evaluating midlife cortisol ranges originally of a 15-year interval with illness indicators on the finish, the researchers had been in a position to decide that these ranges might function an Alzheimer’s illness biomarker, with explicit consideration to gender variations and menopausal standing.
No important associations had been noticed in males or with tau burden, referring to the tau protein that contributes to neuronal dysfunction and dying.
“The outcomes spotlight the significance of figuring out early danger elements when biomarkers are detectable however cognitive impairment is absent,” mentioned Arash Salardini, MD, affiliate professor of cognitive and behavioral neurology with the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Illnesses at UT Well being San Antonio.
Salardini is first writer of the examine titled, “Elevated serum cortisol related to early-detected improve of mind amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s illness imaging biomarkers amongst menopausal ladies: The Framingham Coronary heart Research,” revealed April 24 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
Different authors are also with UT Well being San Antonio, in addition to the College of Texas Faculty of Public Well being San Antonio; Framingham Coronary heart Research of the Nationwide Coronary heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being; Boston College; Gonzaba Medical Group, San Antonio; College of Galway, Eire; Cedars-Sinai Medical Middle; Massachusetts Normal Hospital/Harvard Medical Faculty; New York College Grossman Faculty of Drugs; Brigham and Ladies’s Hospital; Yale College; and the College of California at Davis.
“Our work exhibits that contemplating intercourse and hormonal standing in understanding Alzheimer’s illness pathogenesis is vital, and means that stress discount and hormonal interventions could maintain promise for Alzheimer’s prevention, particularly in at-risk ladies,” mentioned Sudha Seshadri, founding director of the Biggs Institute and senior writer of the examine.
Focusing on danger elements early
The examine notes that “sporadic” Alzheimer’s illness is the main explanation for cognitive decline in older adults. That incorporates a extended asymptomatic section of amyloid beta accumulation, the principle part of amyloid plaques, ultimately triggering progressive cognitive decline.
Recognizing that these organic adjustments are already effectively established by the point signs emerge, efficient early interventions should goal Alzheimer’s illness danger elements in the course of the preclinical levels. Nonetheless, regardless of important developments in understanding how the illness impacts the physique’s regular organic processes, greater than half of the general danger has remained unexplained, underscoring the essential have to establish extra danger elements that may be focused in the course of the preclinical stage.
One promising line of investigation facilities on cortisol, a steroid hormone important for mobile homeostasis, or stability, and the stress response. Genetic research had recognized mutations in glucocorticoid, or steroid hormones which have anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive results, signaling pathways that improve susceptibility to Alzheimer’s illness.
Additionally, a number of cross-sectional and longitudinal research had reported that larger blood cortisol ranges are linked to an elevated chance of growing the illness.
To deal with gaps and inconsistencies throughout these research, the researchers led by UT Well being San Antonio performed a longitudinal evaluation utilizing information from the third-generation cohort of the Framingham Coronary heart Research, which dates to 1948 and is now directed by the Nationwide Coronary heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.
They assessed the connection between serum cortisol ranges within the 305 cognitively unimpaired, middle-aged people—48.5% feminine, with a imply age of 39.6 years—and amyloid/tau burdens roughly 15 years later utilizing positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. They usually carried out multivariable regression analyses adjusted for confounders.
All this allowed them to analyze cortisol’s impression at an earlier stage of Alzheimer’s illness pathogenesis, the place interventions is likely to be best.
Given the neuroprotective results of estrogen and testosterone, which mitigate cortisol’s deleterious impression on neural tissues, in addition they explored sex-specific variations, focusing notably on postmenopausal danger.
They hypothesized that cortisol’s impression on Alzheimer’s pathology could be extra pronounced in ladies, particularly after menopause, in step with some earlier findings.
Certainly, they discovered that postmenopausal ladies with excessive midlife cortisol are at elevated danger of Alzheimer’s illness, and that postmenopausal hormone adjustments could amplify cortisol’s results on amyloid.
“Longitudinal follow-up of our cohort will likely be essential to find out whether or not these early amyloid adjustments translate into medical signs and to make clear the causal position of cortisol in Alzheimer’s illness improvement,” Salardini mentioned.
Extra data:
Arash Salardini et al, Elevated serum cortisol related to early‐detected improve of mind amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s illness imaging biomarkers amongst menopausal ladies: The Framingham Coronary heart Research, Alzheimer’s & Dementia (2025). DOI: 10.1002/alz.70179
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Excessive midlife stress hormone ranges linked to Alzheimer’s danger in postmenopausal ladies (2025, Could 16)
retrieved 16 Could 2025
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