Study links cardiac conditions to type of cognitive impairment

The connection between heart and mind Health reporter Michelle Gerwing reports on a study linking heart conditions with a kind of cognitive impairment.

It's said that everything in the body is connected, and a new study is strengthening the link between heart and brain health.

The report released by the Heart and Stroke Foundation showed people with heart conditions are at a higher risk for a type of cognitive impairment related to blood supply.

Anjie Valgardson says she has experienced both.

The 49-year-old says she began experiencing cardiac issues at age 19.

"I started having bouts of racing heart rate," she told CTV News.

Years later, she found out she had a shredded valve, which was fixed with emergency surgery. But only six months after that, she had another health scare.

"I suddenly lost all feeling in my right arm, and I couldn’t speak,” she recalled.

What she experienced were symptoms of a stroke she said came as a side effect of her heart issues.

Valgardson doesn't have any lasting physical side effects from the stroke, but she said she does have cognitive issues.

"I have trouble with numbers and working with, when multiple things are going on, I have trouble focusing and concentrating," she said. Because of her cognitive issues, she was forced to quit her career in nursing, which she said was devastating.

The study from the Heart and Stroke Foundation said the link between heart conditions and the brain are closer than previously thought.

It found 40 per cent of people who were discharged following a heart, stroke or cognitive condition were re-admitted with a second related event or condition.

"We found lots of research that says the two, once you have any heart condition, puts you at much increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia which is the worst form,” said Patrice Lindsay, from the Heart and Stroke Foundation, who co-authored the report.

Cardiologist Dr. Shelley Zieroth said the report's findings are surprising because it covers the whole spectrum of cardiac conditions.

"We tend to think of older people of having a risk of vascular cognitive impairment, and what this report draws attention to is people with even, or younger people with other types of heart conditions are also at risk of vascular cognitive impairment," she said, explaining cardiac events decrease oxygen blood flow to the brain cells, injuring the cells.

The report urges people to commit to healthy lifestyle choices to prevent stroke and dementia.