Being affected by several cardiometabolic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, is linked to a greatly increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. A new twin study suggests that the same genes may be behind the risk of both cardiometabolic diseases and dementia.

“We know that type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke are well-established individual risk factors for dementia. As the population ages, more and more people are affected by several co-morbid cardiometabolic diseases, but few studies have dealt with the effect of this multimorbidity on dementia risk and whether genetic factors affect the relationship,” says Abigail Dove, PhD student at the Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institutet and the study’s first author.

Read the full article on Karolinska Institutet’s website.