Pulmonary Diseases Lead to Brain Damage in Elderly

Pulmonary disease may threaten more than just a senior's ability to breathe. According to a new study, seniors with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases have an increased risk of developing noticeable mental decline.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) consist of diseases that cause reduced air flow in the lungs and result in shortness of breath and coughing. Common examples of COPDs are bronchitis and emphysema.

Of course, no one would want these conditions, especially in older age, where laboring to draw breath would significantly add burden to an already easily exhausted body. However, research recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Neurology has found evidence indicating that COPDs contracted in late-adulthood contribute to an 83 percent increased risk of developing mild cognitive impairment.

To determine this, researchers examined 1,400 randomly chosen seniors from Minnesota between 70 and 89 years old. All had no history of mental degradation prior to the study's launch in 2004. Approximately 170 participants were diagnosed with some form of COPD at the start of the study. Every 15 months for several years tests were conducted on the participants to determine mental and pulmonary health.

At the end of the study, the researchers were able to determine that 370 of the patients developed mental impairment. Of that group, 62 percent had developed memory impairment, which appeared to have no connect to COPDs. However, more than a quarter of that same group reported non-amnesic mental decline -- mental decline associated with reduced ability to focus or solve problems -- which is commonly associated with subtle brain degradation unrelated to memory decline.

Even more convincing, researchers found a clear pattern where the longer a patient had COPD, the greater their risk of this type of decline was.

The study's author theorized that oxygen deprivation caused by COPD might adversely affect brains, which are delicate and susceptible to damage in there advancing years. Many of the COPD patients also reported sleep difficulties, which can also worsen mental functioning.

The study was published in JAMA Neurology on March 17.